Monochrome Spectrum
by Atlantic Jewel
Summary: Sequel to Grey Matter - Silver Lining. Emma has been sent back to her own dimension, but there are those that will simply not let her go - not that she wants them to! What surprises does Emma's life hold, and how will the Transformers react to it? Also, their reunion will bring about a new quest to revive the All-Spark, and it is the only thing that can defeat Fhantom...and more...
1. Prologue

TRANSFORMERS ANIMATED

Monochrome Spectrum

* * *

Sequel to Grey Matter - Silver Lining. Emma - the All-Spark Carrier - has been sent back to her own dimension, but there are those that will simply not let her go - not that she wants them to! What surprises does Emma's life hold, and how will the Transformers react to it? Also, their reunion will bring about a new quest to revive the All-Spark, and it is the only thing that can defeat the Vampire Lord, Fhantom...

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Here's the first chapter! Oh, and PLEASE read the side-story, because there will be references to it in this sequel!

* * *

CHAPTER ONE

Prologue

* * *

The Vampire Lord Fhantom was _furious_, but he attempted to control his anger, although some might argue that destroying three of ones own underlings was _not_ being in control. Fhantom did not care. Everything he had worked so hard for had gone so _wrong_. Fhantom paced across the carpet, in the throne room at the top of his castle. A figure stood in the corner of the room, but he did not speak, and was not spoken to.

Fhantom had sought the All-Spark for many stellar-cycles, and had decided to move when it had been reborn into the Princess, Angel. The youngest Teraminian Princess, Angel, had been full of spirit, but she had also been weak, not knowing how to fully use that glorious power which she had been given. Tricking that Cybertronian fool, Megatron, had been so ridiculously easy, and so had abducting unsuspecting Teraminians and Cybertronians, to make into his personal slaves. It should have been easy to steal the power from the Princess, after destroying her homeland and making it into his new kingdom.

But, said Princess had been whisked away by Megatron, after Yoketron had used his powers to seal Fhantom away. _That_ part he hadn't been expecting, and only when Yoketron's life-force had been snuffed out had the Shards of the seal broken, and Fhantom could once again get back to hunting for the Princess. Fhantom's most loyal servant, Hunter, had eventually succeeded in tracking the Princess, and bringing her to Fhantom, but she had then sacrificed herself to keep the All-Spark from his servos. Fhantom, in all his stellar-cycles, had _never_ understood the strange nobility of Teraminians, a pure spark which they shared with their Cybertronian cousins.

Angel, however, had not died completely, but had instead been reborn as a creature called a human, although she was in another dimension. That was no matter. Hunter's _other_ ability was inter-dimensional travel. He had retrieved Angel's reincarnation, Emma, and brought her to the place where the All-Spark was. It had been shattered, but Emma had managed to find all of it, and she had even reclaimed her original form - Angel. Unfortunately, she had also done so in order to sacrifice herself - again - to save that pathetic cyber-ninja. She had died, but the All-Spark had kept her alive, _again_, in order to send her back to her own dimension.

There was a problem, however and, it was for this reason, that Fhantom was so furious. The All-Spark was powerful, it was true, and had so much to offer those that could use its power _properly_, but it was not entirely invincible, as had been proven when that Autobot, Optimus Prime, had (accidentally) shattered it, scattering its Fragments across an entire planet. Now, it seemed, the All-Spark had suffered _again_, except _this_ time, it was not _physically_ broken, more...

Fhantom couldn't quite name it; couldn't quite figure out what had happened, but _something_ had happened. The sooner he got Emma in here, the sooner he could figure it out, and then fix it.

Fhantom would have _liked_ to have gotten this done sooner rather than later, but his powers were, although strong, limited only to this dimension. _Hunter_ was the one capable of traveling across dimensions, but he was currently incapacitated, due to having exhausted much of his energy when he had aided Succubus and then Incubus in the siblings' schemes, which had resulted in nothing but failure to capture the All-Spark and Emma.

Fhantom was impatiently waiting for Hunter's revival of his powers and then...oh yes, _then_...the fun could _really_ begin...


	2. Two Separate Lives

TRANSFORMERS ANIMATED

Monochrome Spectrum

* * *

Sequel to Grey Matter - Silver Lining. Emma - the All-Spark Carrier - has been sent back to her own dimension, but there are those that will simply not let her go - not that she wants them to! What surprises does Emma's life hold, and how will the Transformers react to it? Also, their reunion will bring about a new quest to revive the All-Spark, and it is the only thing that can defeat the Vampire Lord, Fhantom...

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

zrexheartz - thanks!

AllSpark Princess - it's interesting, I hope! Here's the next chapter!

* * *

CHAPTER TWO

Two Separate Lives

* * *

Not for the first time, an argument broke out at in the Paradiso family kitchen, between Emma and her Father. It had started out simply enough - a casual comment made by Bruce towards his youngest daughter - which had quickly escalated into a near-on shouting match, ended only by Lee coming home from work.

The tired fifty-four year old had walked in from the garage to find her husband with his arms crossed and glaring at their daughter. Said daughter matched her Father's glare, her fists clenched at her sides. Lee stopped for a second, before jumping into action, knowing that she had to move quickly. The look in her husband's eyes was _not_ one she wanted to test out, not today or any day! Lee grabbed Emma roughly by the upper-arm, startling the twenty-three year old and, ignoring the girl's protests, shoved her out the back, locking the door quickly. She stood watching as Emma froze for a second, before the small red-head bolted, taking off down the back somewhere of the family's five acre property. Lee took a deep breath, knowing that Emma wouldn't go very far, and then she turned around, and attempted a smile at her husband.

"Rough day?" They asked each other at the same time, and _almost_ smiled...

* * *

Emma Paradiso stopped when she reached the shed and, not turning on the light, crept inside, and shut the door softly behind her. Her heart beat in her chest, as she walked barefoot on the concrete floor, before she sunk down to it, with her back resting against the white Lancer. She was a small woman with tired hazel eyes and short red-dyed hair. The red had once been bleached at the tips and dyed with pink. When Lee had found out, she'd been furious enough to take to it with a pair of scissors and cut it to just below ear-length, all the while threatening to shave it all off if her daughter _ever_ did something like that without telling her again! Emma had sobbed for an hour afterwards, not because of the way she'd been treated or that her Mother had yelled at her, but because that pink dye had been a reminder...a Fragment of a life she had been forced to give up, and she _missed_ it...

For, Emma was _not_ like most people her own age, as her Mother often said, but Lee had no way of knowing just _how_ different Emma actually _was_..._nobody_ on this planet knew, or even had any _idea_, about what Emma Lauren Paradiso had been through, and nor could they find out...

Like she did so often nowadays, when the fights with her parents upset her so much, Emma reached under her black dress, pulling out the chain that she wore and holding it up in front of her face. On it glittered two silver symbols, that she could see even in the dim evening light. One looked like a heroic face, and the other was a pointed face. They were the Autobot symbol and the Decepticon symbol. Most people knew them from the TV shows and movies, about giant transforming robots called Transformers but, to Emma, they were so much more - she knew the truth about Transformers.

They were real.

It had shocked her, of course, and even scared her a bit, at the beginning, when she'd first been pushed in front of a train, only to be transported to the dimension where the characters from _Transformers Animated_ lived and breathed as real-life, 3D beings. There, she had been hired by the scientist Isaac Sumdac to be a Nanny and tutor for his eight-year-old daughter, Sari. Emma had met Sari's friends - the five Autobots that were guarding the All-Spark - and, through it all, had come to discover her own destiny, and how it tied in with the Transformers...with a few more so than others...

Emma had discovered that she was the reincarnation of a Transformer named Angel - a Princess that had once carried the incredible power of the All-Spark. After the All-Spark had been shattered in a battle with the Decepticons (the Autobots' sworn enemies) and Emma had started to absorb its Fragments, pieces of her memory had returned to her each time she absorbed a piece of its power...

Emma examined the two rings that dangled on the chain along with the symbols, and her scarred throat clenched up.

A white gold ring with a emerald-cut white diamond in the center, and flanked by two argyle pink diamonds...Emma loved it...it was her dream ring, after all...

And, a second white gold ring, this time with a heart-cut dark blue, almost black, sapphire, that sat above a silver-gold bow that had a smaller white diamond embedded into it...sapphires were Emma's birthstone...

However, these two rings meant so much _more_ to her than just jewelry, or something that was beautiful...

To her, they represented all she had been through on her adventure. She'd been chased, shot at, hunted by Vampires, fallen off a cliff, travelled into outer-space, saved a country and learned to love with all of her heart.

She'd learned to love Aquilla and Audrey, the techno-organic twins that had been transferred into her by some mystical force or other, and then removed via cesarean to become her own flesh-and-blood - her _daughters_...

She'd learned to love her charge, the hyperactive Sari, even _after_ the little girl had found out she, too, was a techno-organic, and used powers of her All-Spark Key to turn herself into a teenager, and become one of Emma's closest friends...

She'd learned to love her human friends, as diverse as they were. Sari's Dad, Isaac Sumdac, was a good-natured and smart little man. Miko Nakadai, a crazy Japanese girl that _loved_ American culture, was a good friend, and had worked with Emma at a Japanese restaurant called Mama Fuyano's. Mama Fuyano herself was a slightly scary but kind woman, and her other workers - Zakuro, Sakura, Aiko and Kerry - were both hard-working and fun-loving. Another friend of Sari's was Flora Fanzone, a sometimes strict but otherwise friendly teenager, whose Father, Carmine Fanzone, was the chief of police in Detroit. His wife, Fuchsia, was also a friendly woman. She was friends with Victoria Greys, whose niece, Carly Witwicky, was a kind woman that hadn't objected to Emma holding her newborn son, Daniel. Neither had her husband, Spike. It was this interaction that had, somewhat, helped Emma to handle becoming a Mother, herself...

Emma had also learned to love her Transformer friends, including Victoria's spark-partner, Sideswipe (also known as Sai, Victoria's soul-mate and mentor). In fact, Emma had become quite fond of _all_ of the Autobots. This included the leader of the small band of Autobots that she'd first met, _the_ Optimus Prime, whom lost his temper sometimes but cared about all life, and especially his team. Ratchet was the old medic, he was grumpy but he was kind, and had delivered Aquilla and Audrey into the world. Bumblebee was Sari's spark-partner (whether they wanted to admit it or not) and was a hyperactive and friendly speedster. Bulkhead was Bumblebee's best friend, and also Miko's, and was clumsy but sensitive and artistic (something that Emma herself could well understand).

The other Autobots Emma had met she cared for as well. Ultra Magnus, the _ultimate_ Autobot leader, was sometimes hard to handle, but he was also fair, and had allowed the Autobots to stay on Earth and guard Emma and the All-Spark. Sentinel Prime was...a jerk, but he'd been through a lot of pain, as well, so Emma guessed that she could tolerate him and his drill-sergeant, human-hating ways. Jetfire and Jetstorm, the flying Autobot twins, were a bit of a mystery to Emma, but her own twins had seemed to like them enough.

But...there had been two Autobots in particular that she'd loved...because, they were _in_ love with her, and she with them, even though by human standards that was not to be allowed, but for Transformers, well...it was different...

The cyber-ninjas, Prowl and Jazz...Prowl, the lone wolf that cared for nature and was very protective...and Jazz, the cool guy that loved music and basically anything that could be related to hip-hop and dance...they'd loved Emma in her former life, and had fallen for her again in her new life...Jazz had even been her first kiss...but Prowl...

It was because of Prowl that Emma had sacrificed herself, to bring him back to life after he'd given up his spark to save the city from the Decepticons' attack...with that same act, she'd brought others back to life and restored still others to their original states...but...Prowl was _special_ to her...Jazz was, too...they're _proposed_ to her, and she hadn't been able to accept...

Emma didn't even want to _think_ of her _third_ spark-partner, the Decepticon, Starscream...

Some might call the Decepticons evil but, as always, Emma knew better. The Decepticons had once been Ambassadors for Cybertron, to Emma/Angel's home-planet called Teramina, but they had been wrongly accused of a crime that they did not (intentionally) commit. Emma had not been able to tell the Autobots all of this and, so, subsequently, she had to imagine that, like in the TV show, they were now going to spend the rest of forever in the stockade...or, be executed...

The thought of Megatron, Shockwave and Blitzwing being executed sent pangs of fear and pain through Emma every time she thought about it, especially since Shockwave and Blitzwing had been in love with the sisters of Emma's former-self, Angel.

"But...I can't _do_ anything..." Emma felt tears come to her eyes as she spoke these words out-loud. She knew it to be true - she had told herself that a _million_ times before - but it still hurt..._a lot_. "I can't help the Decepticons...I can't take care of my girls...I can't...I _can't_...

It wasn't that she hadn't _tried_. She'd attempted to summon the All-Spark the _moment_ she'd found herself standing on the platform, and realised what had happened. She'd been trying for months now, but it was no use. Every time she attempted to reconnect with the All-Spark, she felt...well, _empty_. It was _there_, inside of her, there was no doubt about it, but...well, if the All-Spark could have been coloured something before, like the Chakra from _Naruto_, then it would have been blue. This was grey, and Emma didn't like that...

It was as hard to deal with as the fact that she was half Vampire...

Emma had been bitten by a Vampire, but had had the Venom cut out of her, to make her a half-being. So, as a result, she would not burn badly in the sun, or need to drink blood to survive or anything, but...

Emma had felt the change in her as soon as the Venom had entered her bloodstream, but it had been curbed - particularly her thirst for blood/energon - by the presences of her spark-partners, Prowl and Jazz, and by the fact that she did _not_ want to appear to be a monster in the eyes/optics of her loved ones...

However...she may not _burn_ in the sun, but she didn't exactly _like_ it, anymore. It was as if her body was telling her that she _must_ stay up late, and sleep during the day. Somehow, no matter _how_ much sleep she got during the night, she'd still be dead tired during the day. She _hated_ having to get out of bed, and put up a fight. It was this that caused her and her Dad to argue, except on the days that Emma went to TAFE and _forced_ herself to get up. Like many Vampires, Emma had also become somewhat sharper, and argumentative. Her parents had noticed the change, but didn't know what to make of it...

Also...

Emma considered herself to be an adult. She'd been to war, and she'd been to space. She had kids, soul-mates and battle-scars and a job (in another world), and she'd been torn so terribly away from them.

But, because no time had passed in this world, and also because of the All-Spark's disappearance, Emma couldn't _prove_ any of this...she'd taken the rings off her finger to hide them from her parents, and was _trying_ to go back to the way things had been, but..she _couldn't_ let it go! It was a part of her, as were they, and she was going _insane_ without them!

She could watch _Transformers Animated_ - hear their voices and relive a slightly retold adventure - and hug the action figures and listen to various songs about love and loss as much as she wanted, but it was no use.

There was no letting go.

"Prowl...Jazz...everyone..." Emma whispered, before burying her face in her hands. She sobbed: "What's happening...is everybody okay...?"

* * *

Onboard the Death's Head, Prowl suddenly shuddered, though he didn't know _why_, exactly, just that...she was alive. He could feel it...

Ironically, at that exact moment, Jazz entered. By mutual agreement, neither of the two cyber-ninjas spoke but, somehow, both of them knew what the other was thinking, but chose not to say anything. It was a comfortable and neutral agreement both had come to many months ago. There was no reason for either of them to fight. They had a lot in common, particularly their love for one femme, and it was this love that kept them both going...

It had also been this love that had helped Prowl and Jazz to make the decision to join up with Lockdown, the notorious half-Vampire bounty hunter. Even though they were both aware of the consequences should anybot back on Cybertron find out, both the cyber-ninjas had agreed that it was their smartest move. Besides, it's not like they had gone out with that _intention_, but...

As Prowl followed Jazz through the corridors of the (slightly scary-looking) ship, he thought back to the day they had encountered Lockdown on Earth...

Prowl and Jazz, missing their spark-partner, had returned to the country of Emma's birth, which happened to be Australia. They had wisely decided to steer clear of Parallel-Emma's place (or, her stomping-grounds, as their Emma had liked to call them), and had instead decided to visit the area where Emma had said she'd been born, albeit in the other world.

So, standing in the car park out the front of the hospital, and feeling slightly depressed, Prowl and Jazz had suddenly picked up an all-too-familiar energy signature, and followed it without hesitation. Lockdown, however, did not want to fight - he had, in fact, been looking for Prowl and Jazz and, when he'd informed them as to _why_, a shaky but mutual alliance had been unexpectedly formed...

Lockdown was leant over a computer screen, and examining the information on it, which was being received via a machine that was scanning an object, when Jazz and Prowl entered the main room.

Lockdown didn't look up, but said: "I think I got it."

"You know how it works?" Jazz and Prowl asked in unison.

Lockdown nodded. "Yeah, but there's another problem."

"Like what?"

"I can't _make_ it work."

"Do you know what _can_?" The cyber-ninjas wanted to know.

Lockdown finally looked up, an optic-ridge raised in slight annoyance. "Okay, I'm gonna have to ask you to stop doing that - it's getting really creepy..."

"Says the bot that collects trophy-mods from his victims." Jazz looked around the room.

Lockdown sighed, and looked back at the screen without another word.

Jazz and Prowl exchanged a glance. Despite their alliance, things were still not exactly peaceful aboard Death's Head. If anything, it was more tense than it had been before...

Prowl stepped forwards, and examined the item which was being scanned. Lockdown said that he had picked it up in the hospital. When asked what he'd been doing there, the half-Vampire had explained that whatever the object was had been _calling_ to him...yeah, creepy...

Still, despite the fact that the item looked like nothing more than a small, digital pocket-watch, the energy reading that all three of them got from it showed that it was definitely _not_ made by humans. It didn't appear to be Cybertronian, either, which left only one other plausible explanation...

It was Teraminian.

The fact that Lockdown had found it at the parallel hospital in which Emma had been born in only furthered to support that fact.

"So, _what_ is it, exactly?" Prowl wanted to know.

"It's a Warp Device," Lockdown said, and both Jazz and Prowl looked at him, sharply. "Kind of like a pocket-sized Space-Bridge, except not everybot can use it." He added.

"What's up with that?" Jazz wanted to know, leaning against a wall.

Lockdown shrugged. "Not sure, kid. The Teraminians had powers that we Cybertronians can't even _begin_ to comprehend and, without a Teraminian around, we've got no way of knowing for _sure_ how we can use it..."

Prowl frowned. It was so _frustrating_ - they were so near, yet so far! How could they reach Emma - the last, non-full-Vampire Teraminian - if they needed a Teraminian to _do_ so?!

"Can't you, you know, connect with one of your Vampire buddies, or something?" Jazz suggested, almost reading Prowl's processor (which, Prowl reminded himself, was not so unlikely...)

Lockdown gave him a Look, and didn't answer. Instead, he switched off the machine, which stopped scanning the warp device.

"We need to find somebot with a knowledge of Teraminian technology." Prowl said, thoughtfully, picking up the device and holding it in the palm of his servo. The device felt warm, and there was a strange symbol etched into the back of it...

"How?" Jazz looked at him. "The only ones that can dig that are the 'Cons, and they're all rusting in the stockade..."

"Not _all_ of them." Prowl reminded him, his processor ticking. "Starscream managed to escape, remember?" Prowl sighed. "Much as I hate to admit it, he's probably the most knowledgeable on this sort of thing..."

"I feel what you're saying, Prowl." Jazz nodded briskly. "Point is, I think there's more than one reason not to swing his way..."

Lockdown pointedly busied himself in checking their coordinates. They had been traveling undetected across Earth's skies, thanks to the ship's cloaking properties. They were currently flying over Russian airspace, and the Russians had no idea...

Something caught Lockdown's attention, and he turned to focus on it. The scanners were picking up something...no, some_bot_...the little red dot was moving steadily towards a nearby island...

Lockdown ran a scan over the energy signature and, for a moment, he was too stunned to do anything. Was that...could it _be_...?

Slowly, Lockdown relaxed, and then he smiled. What was it that humans said? Speak Of The Devil...? Lockdown liked that saying, and thought that _maybe_, this particular bot suited that saying _all too well_...

Lockdown turned to his fellow cyber-ninja, and said: "Hey, you two wanna go after Starscream, or not?" He pointed to the screen, namely at the fast-moving red dot. "Because, that's him, right there." He looked smug...

Jazz and Prowl looked shocked, and then hurried over to the screen, where they confirmed that what the bounty-hunter was saying was true.

They exchanged a glance, and then Prowl said: "What's his destination?"

Jazz quickly typed in a few commands on the computer, and stated: "I've calculated his trajectory and speed, and the most likely point of impact is..." A green circle appeared over the map. "There."

Prowl leaned in closer. "Is that...?"

"Japan?" Jazz finished, a brief flash going across his visor.

He and Prowl stared at the screen for a moment, before looking at each other, in horror. "_Miko_!" They exclaimed.

Lockdown looked at them for a moment, before saying: "So, shall we go?"

"Of _course_ we'll go!"


	3. Nice Girls, Mean Girls

TRANSFORMERS ANIMATED

Monochrome Spectrum

* * *

Sequel to Grey Matter - Silver Lining. Emma - the All-Spark Carrier - has been sent back to her own dimension, but there are those that will simply not let her go - not that she wants them to! What surprises does Emma's life hold, and how will the Transformers react to it? Also, their reunion will bring about a new quest to revive the All-Spark, and it is the only thing that can defeat the Vampire Lord, Fhantom...

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Hawkie-chan - here's the next chapter! Thanks so much for the review, and kind words! ^^

zrexheartz - you bet it is! :)

* * *

CHAPTER THREE

Nice Girls, Mean Girls

* * *

Sari Sumdac walked home from school, but she was really in no hurry. Why should she hurry? She had a ton of homework that she had to do but didn't want to, and going home would mean another awkward evening with...her.

Saipriya Sumdac...her Father's wife, but _not_ Sari's Mother!

Sari told herself that, quite firmly, and she told everybody that _dared_ to suggest otherwise. Saipriya was _not_ Sari's Mother, she could never _hope_ to be Sari's Mother and...the strangest part was, the Indian woman did not even try to pretend that she was. _That_ part really confused Sari.

The red-head now hitched her backpack on her shoulders, and barely even noticed when her locket bumped against the blue disc on her chest. The locket was Saipriya's. Sari had tried to give it back to her, but had been told to keep it. It was a family heirloom, Saipriya had said, and had ignored Sari's protests that they were _not_ family, although Isaac had gotten pretty annoyed. However, nine or so years of giving Sari everything she'd ever wanted had not prepared him for what would happen when he finally gave her a Mother - something that Sari had occasionally asked for as a child but, now that she was sixteen, she didn't seem to care anymore. In truth, the techno-organic didn't know _what_ to think, and she was tired of everybody trying to tell her what _they_ thought she should be thinking.

The only one that didn't seem to do that was Saipriya herself, but that didn't make things at home any less awkward. Sari tried to spend as much time away from home as she could. She _wished_ that Miko and Flora were still here - Miko had gone back home to Japan, and Flora was studying abroad in England, again - and, though she still talked to them online, she missed them, as much as she missed her Nanny...and, the Autobots...

Sari hadn't heard _anything_ from the Autobots in about six months, which hurt her just as much as missing her human friends did. Sari understood that all of them were busy - they had been given new statuses, and that was a big thing for them - but it still upset her that they hadn't even bothered to call. She, of course, had no way of getting in contact with them. The Space-Bridge had been disabled, and she couldn't figure out how to get it back online. Why didn't the Autobots want anything more to do with her, after all they'd been through together? Especially Bumblebee...her best friend...

Sari's bright blue eyes darkened, as she reached under her collar to pull out the Autobot pendant she wore. She was an Autobot too, or had they all forgotten that? She was half-Cybetronian...

The blue disc on Sari's chest warmed slightly, just then, and she looked around, half-expecting to see a Transformer jump out from behind a building or something. That didn't happen, but something else _did_. A gold car pulled up on the curb, and Sari sensed a familiar energy coming from it.

The window rolled down, and a beautiful woman with grey eyes leaned out. "Sari?" Victoria Greys called to her. Sari felt her spirits lift, a little bit. Victoria was a friend. "Are you okay, honey?"

Sari began to nod, and then shook her head. When was the last time she had felt okay?

Victoria noticed this, and smiled gently at the teenager. "I see...do you want to come with us to pick up the kids?"

Sari nodded, but then she said: "But...my Dad...?"

"I will ask Sai to go to your house and tell your Father that you are visiting us for a little while." Victoria suggested, referring to Sai, or Sideswipe. He was a former Autobot warrior that had been living in disguise on Earth, and was Victoria's mentor and lover.

Sari smiled her thanks, and got into the back of the gold car, which growled a little bit in response to Sari's dirty shoes.

"Sunny, behave yourself." Victoria said, sternly.

Sai's twin brother Sunny (short for Sunstreaker, which he preferred) was a newcomer to Earth, and had been resurrected by Emma shortly before her disappearance. Though he seemed to share his brother's bond with Victoria, Sunny was also quite vain, and border-lined on arrogant at the best of times. Sari was a little bit nervous of the golden warrior, especially after he had explained in _detail_ why he didn't trust the Autobots, but she also knew that neither Victoria nor Sai would ever let Sunny do anything bad. Besides, he still had to spark of an Autobot, whether he liked it or not, so...

"Victoria?" Sari spoke up, as they passed through the intersection where Sari and Bulkhead had first met Emma.

"Mmm?" The older woman glanced over her shoulder at Sari.

"Can I...stay at your house for a few days?" Sari wanted to know, not looking up at Victoria as she tugged at the him of her yellow dress.

"Hey, you can't just invite yourself over!" Sunny protested, sounding annoyed. "As if _three_ sparkling femmes weren't bad enough..."

"That's enough, Sunstreaker." Victoria told him and, only for her, Sunsteraker shut up. He continued to fume, though, as Victoria told Sari that she could stay for as long as she liked, and that she'd have Sai get some things at Sari's house for her...

As Sari reveled in the fact that Victoria and Sai could speak with each other telepathically, just like Emma and Prowl had been able to, she also smiled a little as they approached the day-care center...

* * *

A little girl with purplish-pink hair and dark orange eyes stood atop the playground slide, wearing a crown that she'd dug out of the dress-up box. In her hand, she held a wooden spoon, and around her neck was a pendant shaped like a half-sun. She wore blue denim over-alls over a purple t-shirt.

In a loud and commanding voice, the child said: "_I'm the Queen Of The World, and you all gotta deal with it_!"

"Why do _you_ get to be Queen, Aquilla?" A blonde-haired girl glared up at 'the queen', and put her hands on her hips. Her name was Priscilla. She didn't like Aquilla.

"Because I want to be." Aquilla said, simply, crossing her arms.

"So?" Priscilla stuck her tongue out. "Nobody's going to listen to you, anyway."

"_Yeah_..." Priscilla's friends agreed, also putting their hands on their hips.

"Hey!" A girl with reddish-pink hair came charging over. She also had dark orange eyes, and wore blue denim overalls, but hers were worn over a pink t-shirt. She had a crescent-moon-shaped pendant. "Leave my sister alone, Priscilla!"

"Shut up, Audrey!" Priscilla snapped.

Audrey's eyes widened. "I'm telling Miss. Fern!" She took off running towards the daycare center building.

"Ooh, you're in trouble _now_!" Aquilla told Priscilla.

"So?" Priscilla quickly climbed up the steps of the slide, and stood eye-to-eye with Aquilla. Though they were about the same height, and looked the same age, not many people knew that Aquilla (and her twin sister too, for that matter) were quite a bit younger than the other kids in their daycare group.

That was because the orange-eyed twins were techno-organics. They had started life as metal protoforms, that had been given life after being activated by the simultaneous touches of both Emma and Starscream. They'd spent some time as normal babies would, in their Mother's womb, before being removed via cesarean. They were nearly unique amongst their species and had suffered a great loss and, as such, were used to getting their own way. Aquilla, especially, had a lot of both her parents' stubbornness.

She displayed it now, staring down Priscilla.

Priscilla stared right back at her, and stated: "You're not the boss of me! You're not pretty enough, or smart enough!" Those two statements were not exactly true. Aquilla and Audrey were both blessed with their Mother's good looks (not that Emma would ever have thought that she was pretty!) and were very smart, because of their species and upbringings.

Still, Priscilla's friends said: "_Yeah_..."

Aquilla glared at Priscilla, whom suddenly smirked, and leaned closer and said: "You don't even have a _Mum_...because she _died_, didn't she?"

Aquilla snapped, and lunged at Priscilla. The blue-eyed girl shrieked, and both of them toppled to the ground which, thankfully, had been made soft, probably for this very reason!

"Dummy!" Priscilla cried, trying to claw at Aquilla's face.

"Glitch-head!" Aquilla kicked Priscilla in the knee.

"Ugly!"

"Slagger!"

"Freak!"

"Fra-"

"_Aquilla_!"

The two girls rolled around in a flurry of fists and hair-pulling, until two pairs of hands grabbed both the girls by the backs of their dresses and yanked them away.

Miss. Fern, a young but perfectly capable child-carer, dragged the kicking and screaming Priscilla inside the building. Aquilla, meanwhile, turned to look up at the stern grey eyes of Victoria. It was she that had yelled at Aquilla before she could call Priscilla a 'fragger'.

Aquilla smiled sheepishly. "She started it?" The little girl guessed. Her eyes, which had just been flashing red, returned to their normal colour, as she looked up at her disappointed guardian.

Victoria sighed. "Aquilla..." She began, as Audrey approached them, and then Sari appeared.

"_Sari_!" The twins cried, and Victoria set Aquilla down, knowing that it was a lost cause.

As the twins ran to Sari and threw their arms around the Indian girl's waist, Miss. Fern returned, carrying a little blonde-haired, blue-grey-eyed girl in her arms. She was Angie, the daughter of Victoria and Sai. She had been killed by a Vampire many years ago, but had been resurrected as she was, by none other than Emma.

Miss. Fern handed Angie to her Mother, before rolling her eyes behind her glasses, and saying: "How _do_ you do it, Victoria?"

Victoria just shook her head. "I have _no_ idea..."

* * *

On the way home, Sari sat in the back with the twins, and did her best to patch up Aquilla's injuries. The little girl had managed to walk away with a scraped knee, a bruised elbow, and some scratches on her face (no doubt from Priscilla's fingernails), but she was adamant that the fight had not been her fault!

"Regardless, you still should not have pushed her like that, Aquilla." Victoria said from the front-seat, where she was nursing Angie in her lap. "You could have both been badly injured."

"Yeah," Sari agreed. "Or, you could have lost control of your powers. I did that once and, believe you me, it's _not_ fun."

Aquilla and Audrey exchanged a glance, and then Aquilla lowered her head. "I'm sorry, it's just...Priscilla pushed my buttons..." She said, in a low voice...

"She said that our Mummy was dead." Audrey added, and Sari felt a lump form at the back of her throat.

Victoria sighed. "I see...you know, girls, I lost my Mother when I was young...she died of a terrible illness that she got because _her_ Mother was pregnant with her during the end of World War Two..."

"When the Americans bombed Japan?" Audrey spoke up.

Victoria nodded. "Yes. The point is, a lot of people say that the Japanese _deserved_ to have their home bombed, just because their soldiers were fighting in a war. I could not let myself get upset every time somebody said something bad about my Mother, _or_ her people, or even about _me_..."

Aquilla and Audrey nodded silently, understanding now.

Sari finished cleaning Aquilla's elbow, and said: "Say, Victoria, does that mean you're part Japanese, or...?"

"My Grandmother was Japanese," Victoria explained, as Sunny drove in the driveway of their large, three-story mansion. "And, she became pregnant to an Englishman, so I am one-quarter Japanese..."

"Oh, I see..." Sari nodded. She could well understand being multicultural.

Sai was waiting for them on the front porch. He had a small suitcase full of clothes for Sari, and had also brought along Scuz-Bag, the pet echidna that Emma had saved.

As Sari got out of the car, her mind was a jumble of thoughts, about Mothers and wars and of Japan and England...she wondered how Miko and Flora were doing...

* * *

When it was five PM on a Monday in Detroit, it was seven AM the next day in Kyoto, Japan, which just happened to be where Miko Nakadai was right then.

The Japanese girl walked - no, _ran_ - out of the train station, her book-bag swinging at her side, and held her hands up in the air. "~Yay, I'm finally in Kyoto!~" **(A/N - for the sake of the story, whenever Miko or somebody else is talking in Japanese, I'll use this squiggly-line symbol here: ~.)**.

"~Miko, hurry up, or you'll miss the bus!~" One of Miko's friends called to her.

"~I'm coming!~" Miko replied, and hurried to board the bus.

It was the second day of their history class trip, and they were in the old city of Kyoto. Miko was having the time of her life, taking photos of everything that moved and eating lots of great food. She couldn't shake the feeling that, somehow, it would be even _better_ if her _other_ friends were here to enjoy this, but...

It had been Miko's own choice, really, to go back to Japan, just before the final battle against the Decepticons. She was adjusting well to being back in the homeland, although she missed Sari and the Autobots like crazy. Although, according to Sari, she hadn't heard from the Autobots in months, either, so she was kind of in the same boat as Miko was right now, and Flora was, over in England.

All three girls had Autobot pendants, and had been dubbed as Autobots on more than one occasion, so what was with the sudden disassociation? Miko didn't understand it but, right now, she was just happy for a distraction. As much as she loved America and all its pop culture, she had to admit that her own nation was pretty cool, too...

After lunch, Miko sat on bench, sketching a picture of a building in her sketchbook. Her backpack was by her side, and she rifled through it briefly, looking for the eraser. As she did, her stuffed panda fell out. Miko quickly leant down to pick it up and, when she did, a black shoe stepped onto the green ribbon tied to the panda's neck, disallowing her to retrieve it.

Miko looked up slowly, and glared at her rival, Rin Tachikawa. The tall girl with long raven hair and totally flawless skin stood with her arms crossed, looking down at Miko.

"~Rin, kindly get your foot _off_ my bear's ribbon!~" Miko snapped, feeling frustrated. Rin was Japan's answer to America's Charlie, it seemed. (Charlie was a mean, blonde-haired America that had made the lives of Emma, Miko, Sari and Flora a living Hell last year). Actually, she and Miko had been rivals since kindergarten.

"~What's with you and this ratty old thing anyway, Miko?~" Rin wanted to know, and Miko gritted her teeth, feeling her blood boil. But, she couldn't tell Rin where she'd gotten it, anymore than she could tell her parents, although they had suspected something was up when Miko had gotten home from America.

Miko thought back to that day in the airport, when she'd been leaving, and was so sure that Bulkhead wouldn't come to see her off, but he did! Miko had grown really close to the big green Autobot - he liked art and, though he was clumsy at times, he was really very sweet. When he'd given Miko the handmade panda doll, she'd Christened it "Bulkhead" and then given the _real_ Bulkhead a kiss on the cheek, before running through the boarding gate!

The bear was very special to her, but there was _no way_ Miko could tell her Dad that a _boy_ had given it to her, and she wasn't about to tell Rin, either! Her Dad would kill her, and Rin wouldn't believe her, anyway...

As Miko had leant over, her sketch-pad had fallen to the ground, and one of Rin's friends - Masami Ayanami - stooped down to swiftly pick it up. "~What's this?~" Masami held up the book as she flicked through it.

Miko, who'd picked up her bear, now gasped, and made a grab for the sketch-pad, but Masami held it out of reach. "~Give it back, they're _my_ drawings!~"

"~You call these _drawings_?!~" Rin laughed obnoxiously. "~My baby brother can draw better than you can, Miko!~"

Miko's face flushed, angrily, as she made another grab for the book, and a photo fell out, which Rin's third friend - Kameko Momomiya - snatched up. "~What's _this_?~" She sounded surprised.

Miko knew what they were looking at, and gulped. "~N-nothing, it's just a picture!~" She lied, because of course, it wasn't.

It was a very special photo to her, one that had been taken on their last full day in Kuala Lumpur. Flora, with her four spiky blonde pigtails, was standing in the middle, and Sari and Miko were on either side of her. Bee's holoform had his arm around Sari's shoulder, and Bulkhead's was ruffling Miko's hair. It had been taken at the Sunway Lagoon Theme Park, after an incredibly fun and sometimes dangerous seven days in Malaysia's capital city.

"~Let me see that.~" Rin reached for the photo, but Masami held on, and there was a very audible _ri-ip_ as the photo was torn into two.

Miko gasped, and sat back down on the bench numbly. They'd just torn her photo - her _favourite_ photo, and they were _laughing_ about it. Hot, angry tears filled the Japanese girl's eyes, but she refused to shed them. She took a deep, shaking breath, and then stood up, ready to give the three bullies a piece of her mind. As she did, she just _happened_ to look up, and the colour drained from her face.

"~What's _your_ problem?~" Rin wanted to know, tossing the pieces of the torn photo aside.

Miko's eyes were on the sky, and her lips formed the soft name: "_Decepticon_..."

"_Nani_?" Rin turned around, and then her eyes widened, as she saw the huge purple Decepticon flying straight for them. She screamed, as did her friends, and nearly everybody else around her, save for Miko, though the latter _did_ run when everybody else did, more to avoid being trampled by the mob than anything...

Her mind was racing, however. A Decepticon! Here! But...why...?

Suddenly, somebody shouted: "~Look, there!~" And, everybody turned, to see that another shape - a smaller, black one - had suddenly hit the Decepticon in mid-air, with a flying judo kick!

Miko gasped. "Prowl?!" She guessed, just as a second, white figure, joined the fray. "And Jazz?!" _What is going _on_ here_?! Miko stared, as the three Transformers disappeared into the trees.

Miko's first instinct was to run in that direction, and to find out what was going on by throwing herself headfirst into the situation, but a small thought stopped her. She ran back to the bench to retrieve her backpack, and ducked into a side-alley, where she stooped down and pulled out her video phone.

Thankful for technology, Miko checked her phone's clock. 2:30PM. She couldn't call Sari - it was only 12:30AM back in Detroit. But, that meant that it was 5:30AM in London...Flora _might_ be up...Miko decided to take her chances, and called Flora. The call rang through four times, before a very irritated-looking Flora answered. Her hair was sticking up in about eighty different directions, and it looked like she had just been woken up. Oops...

"Miko, do you have any idea what...?" Flora's amber eyes flashed angrily.

"Flora, listen!" Miko interrupted her. "I'm in Kyoto right now, and a Decepticon just showed up, and Prowl and Jazz are fighting him _right now_!"

"What?!" Flora was wide-awake now. "Are you sure?!"

"There's no mistaking it!" Miko replied. "A big purple Transformer with red eyes, and a smaller black one and a smaller white one..."

Flora looked stunned. "Big and purple, you say? Could it be...?" She glanced over her shoulder, suddenly, and spoke to somebody else. "Nah, go back to sleep, Aimee, I'm just talking to a friend...no, it's not a boy."

Miko rolled her eyes. Was everybody weird?

Flora turned back to Miko. "Look, Miko, I don't know what this means, but if that's the Decepticon that I _think_ it is, then Prowl and Jazz could be in trouble!"

"They'll be fine, Flora, this is _Prowl_ and _Jazz_ we're talking about, here, remember?" Miko shrugged. "I just thought you should know..."

"I know." Flora agreed. "And, now that you've told me, well...I wasn't going to tell you this, but...a couple of nights ago, I looked out the window, and I'm _sure_ I saw a Decepticon flying up there but, when I looked again, it was gone!"

"What kind of Decepticon?!" Miko exclaimed.

Flora rolled her eyes. "Don't sound so excited, they're the bad guys, remember? Anyway, it looked a bit like Starscream - that Decepticon you've just seen in Kyoto - except it was a little bit smaller."

"You could tell from all the way on the ground?"

"My room's on the fifth floor of the school!"

"Oh." That made more sense to Miko. "Any ideas on what we can do next?"

Flora nodded. "Yeah...listen, Miko, can you call Sari at about nine PM, your time? I have the feeling she'll want to know about this..." Flora looked to the side, frowning. "I get the feeling something's about to happen..."

"Well, after six months, it's about bloody time!" Miko responded, nodding her head. "I'm tired of this boring life, I want some action!"

"Be careful what you wish for, kid." A calm voice said from behind her and, when Miko turned around, she saw none other than Lockdown. She gasped, but he raised his hands peaceably. "Calm down. I just want to talk."


	4. Deal With The Devil

TRANSFORMERS ANIMATED

Monochrome Spectrum

* * *

Sequel to Grey Matter - Silver Lining. Emma - the All-Spark Carrier - has been sent back to her own dimension, but there are those that will simply not let her go - not that she wants them to! What surprises does Emma's life hold, and how will the Transformers react to it? Also, their reunion will bring about a new quest to revive the All-Spark, and it is the only thing that can defeat the Vampire Lord, Fhantom...

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

zrexheartz - you'll find out! ^^

* * *

CHAPTER FOUR

Deal With The Devil

* * *

Prowl cringed every time one of the beautiful buildings was damaged or even destroyed by their fight with Starscream. He was glad he was in good shape, because this fight with Starscream was a _brutal_ one. It had been awhile since Jazz and Prowl had battled anybot but, luckily, they _always_ stayed up-to-date with their training, and Lockdown turned out to be a good sparring partner (well, that _may_ have been due to the fact that neither Jazz nor Prowl was _really_ too concerned about hurting the bounty-hunter).

Starscream, however, seemed to have some renewed strength, and neither of the cyber-ninjas could figure out why he seemed so angry but, then again, he was a Decepticon - it was kind of a given.

Still, Prowl couldn't help but feel a strong resentment towards the Decepticon, mainly for the reason that Starscream was a rival for Emma's affection, and _not_ because he was their mortal enemy and had tried to offline them multiple times before. Jazz was different - Prowl wouldn't - _couldn't_ - hate Jazz for feeling the same way as he did, but Starscream was no more a friend than what Lockdown was. Lockdown was...a _business partner_, somewhat...

And, speaking of Lockdown, where _was_ that bounty-hunter, anyway?

"You Autobots are a continuous thorn in my side!" Starscream fired his lasers at the cyber-ninjas, and they both dodged. There was a fire in Starscream's brilliant red optics that neither of them liked. "I blame _you_ for what happened!" Ah, so that was it. Starscream blamed them for...something...

"Care to elaborate on that one, Starscream?" Prowl ventured, and was rewarded with laser fire, which he dodged.

"You know very well what I mean!" Starscream shouted. "If it weren't for you, Emma would still be here!"

Prowl didn't know what to say to that.

But, Jazz had an idea. "We think we know a way to get her back." He told the Decepticon, landing on top of the pink roof of a palace-like building.

"_Don't lie to me_!" Starscream yelled.

"We're not lying." Prowl said carefully, aware of how volatile Starscream could be, even under the best of circumstances. They needed to be careful if they were going to get the information they needed from him. He held up his hands. "We found a device that looks like it was made by her people - by the Teraminians."

Starscream glared at him. "You Autobots are _fools_ if you think I'll fall for that."

"We know you have knowledge on the Teraminian's technology." Prowl said. "You knew Emma back when she was Angel, so you must have known her as a Princess..."

Starscream fixed him with a steely glare. "Go on..." He clenched and unclenched his fist. What if the Autobot was telling the truth? Starscream had a feeling that these two might just want to get Emma back as much as he did...and, if that was the case, then he could use them...

_Show him the device._ Jazz commed Prowl.

Prowl nodded, and carefully produced the strange black device. As soon as Starscream laid optics on it, his reaction was immediate.

"_Where did you get that_?!" He just about shouted, his spark beating wildly as he hovered in mid-air, staring at the long-lost object that the cyber-ninja now held. It _couldn't_ be! Starscream hadn't thought that there were any left in existence but, more to the point...it _could_ be used to get Emma back or, technically, get to where _she_ was...

By silent agreement, the cyber-ninjas decided to play it cool.

"First, you'll tell _us_ just what it is, Starscream." Jazz stated.

Starscream growled softly. "Do _not_ test my patience on this, Autobot..." He warned.

"Look, we all want the same thing, you dig?" Jazz shrugged. "We can do this the easy way, or the hard way..."

Starscream realised that the white cyber-ninja had a point. They had the Warp Device, and he didn't...Starscream would play along, until he could get the device from them...

"It's a Warp Device." Starscream explained, recalling the information from long ago. "The Teraminians made them in order to warp, but there were limitations, much like there are limitations to your Space Bridges."

"Go on..." Prowl nodded. He held on carefully to the Warp Device, his key to reaching his loved one...

"Well, the devices required the use of an area that already had strong currents of Transwarp energy." Starscream told them. "Many Teraminians - and some Cybertronians - had the ability to create the energy by themselves, allowing them to warp within areas of one planet. They were also able to use the devices to warp to places where they had set up the energy that the devices harnessed."

"Like, across the galaxy?" Jazz guessed.

Starscream nodded.

"What about across dimensions?" Prowl asked quietly.

Starscream looked at him. "It's a possibility..." He said, guessing what the cyber-ninja was getting at. "Now, where did you get that device from? I haven't seen one since the...well, in millions of stellar cycles." _Not since the fall of Teramina at the servos of Fhantom..._

"A cyber-ninja acquaintance of ours acquired it by some means or other." Prowl replied.

Starscream rolled his optics. "Oh _fine_, don't tell me then!"

"It's all true, Starscream." Jazz said peaceably. "So, now that we know what we need, how are we gonna get it?"

"Who on Cybertron can warp?" Prowl thought about this, but couldn't think of anybot. "It doesn't seem like a very common gift..."

"It's not." Starscream agreed. "In fact, I only know of two who can do it."

Prowl and Jazz looked at him.

"Okay...who?" Jazz wanted to know.

"A Vampire named Hunter." Starscream said. "I suspect your...cyber-ninja acquaintance may know him..."

Prowl didn't doubt that.

"He's probably the one that bought Emma to this dimension in the first place..." Jazz realised. "That's the only possible sitch..."

Starscream nodded. "Hunter is unique, in that he happens to be able to cross dimensions _without_ the use of a Warp Device."

Prowl was horrified. "Th-that means..."

"He could already _be_ where Emma is, right now!" Jazz finished, sounding just as horrified as Prowl felt.

"Which is _why_ we need to stop wasting time, and start tracking down the only _other_ bot I know that can warp." Starscream said.

Prowl looked at him. "Who?"

"One of my clones, whom I named fittingly because of his ability, though I doubt he's ever used it to do anything but save his own metal." Starscream sighed. "_Skywarp_."

"That cowardly clone of your?" Prowl found it surprising that the black and blue Decepticon could do anything but wave a white flag about, but, he'd heard stranger. "Where is he?"

"I don't know, but I know who _will_." Starscream looked pained, and the cyber-ninjas soon found out _why_. Starscream commed the mysterious Decepticon. "Are you there? ... Don't you _dare_ get smart with me, woman! If it weren't for me, you'd still be...don't you take that tone with me, it's not _my_ fault we got defeated by that slagger Mega...what do you mean by _that_?! ... Look, just tell me where..._no_, not _you_, I need to...I don't _care_ if you've cloaked your energy signa_..._don't you hang up on me, Slipstr..." Starscream's optics widened, and he cried: "She hung up on me, that glitch!"

Prowl sighed. They weren't going to get any help from Starscream, or Slipstream (she was apparently having a fight with him, and no longer on speaking terms).

Just then, however, Prowl got a com from Lockdown.

"That was Lockdown." Prowl told Jazz, after he and Lockdown had hung up mutually. "He says he's got some information on the whereabouts of Slipstream."

Jazz looked surprised. "How'd he get that info?"

Prowl cringed. "Miko - I could hear the death metal in the background."

Jazz nodded. "Let's go then."

They took off before Starscream could even comprehend what had happened, but he swiftly decided to follow them...

* * *

They found Lockdown and Miko waiting for them in a nearby park, called Muruyama. It was beautiful park that suited Prowl's liking, and Prowl and Jazz were happy to proceed through there in their holoforms. They both knew that Starscream was following them, but the two cyber-ninja decided to just wait and see what happened. They would be ready to fight the Decepticon, if they had to.

They found Lockdown and Miko in the spot where the former had said they would be. Passerby's glanced curiously at the punk black-and-pink-haired Japanese girl in the school uniform clutching a panda, and the pale, red-eyed scary-looking man sitting beside her.

Miko looked up as Jazz and Prowl approached her.

"Guys!" She exclaimed, jumping up and running to them, hugging first Prowl and then Jazz. She was bouncing up-and-down, her pigtails nearly hitting Jazz in the face. "Why are you here?! Did you know that Decepticon would be here?! Where have you guys _been_, anyway?! Lockdown says you're all working together, is that true and if so, how come you're working with a Decepticon?! Do the others know about that?!"

Prowl and Jazz exchanged an amused glance. Same old Miko. Prowl answered: "We're here hunting Starscream because, yes, we saw his energy signature appear on the radar. We've been...busy...and, yes, we have a _temporary_ truce with Lockdown, because we're all working towards the same goal."

"Which is what?" Miko's eyes sparkled.

"We're gonna find a way to get to where Emma's groovin', ya dig?" Jazz smiled, and Miko gasped, before she, too, grinned.

"Have you figured out a way yet?!" Miko asked excitedly. "Like, can you get to her dimension?! Do you _actually_ think she's still alive?!"

"We're working on it." Prowl explained.

"We can try." Jazz added.

"And, yes." They finished, in unison.

Miko nodded, understanding. "So, what do you need me to do?"

Jazz and Prowl looked at Lockdown.

The bounty-hunter straightened up slightly. "Heard this one talking to somebody."

"To Flora." Miko stated importantly. "She said she saw a Decepticon that looked like that other one, just the other night."

"It could be Slipstream or Skywarp." Prowl said thoughtfully.

"Or, it could be one of them _other_ clones." Jazz added. "Still, it's all we've got to go on right now."

"That, and finding a place that already has the kind of Transwarp Energy we're looking for." Prowl added.

"Why don't you just ask Sari or Bulkhead?" Miko suggested, and everybot looked at her. She put her free hand on her hip (the hand that wasn't holding onto the panda), and looked around at them. "Those two know where Emma was the first time came to this dimension, since they were the ones that found her, right? So, why don't you just ask one of them?"

Jazz and Prowl looked at each other.

_If we go to Bulkhead, and the Elite Guard find out we're working with Lockdown, they'll have us thrown in the stockade and possibly executed._ Prowl commed to his fellow cyber-ninja.

_But, if we hook up with Sari again, she'll get on our cases about not keeping in contact with her for the last six months, and she might not tell us._ Jazz commed back.

They nodded to each other. "Bulkhead it is, then."

Miko squealed, and grabbed Prowl's hand. "Oh-please-oh-please-oh-please-oh-please-oh-PLEASE take me with you!" She begged, her eyes sparkling again. "_Please_?!"

Prowl and Jazz both blinked, and then instantly changed their minds and decided to go see Sari instead. At least they had better immunity when it came to her, and she'd be less likely to kill them (though, only _just_...).

Miko was disappointed at first, but then she realised that Sari would have _killed_ her if she'd let Prowl and Jazz go to Cybertron, instead of making them go to Detroit.

"Okay, so one of us will go track down this Decepticon, and one of us will go back to Detroit and face the wrath of Sari?" Prowl suggested, and Jazz nodded in agreement.

"And just _how_ do you plan on approaching one of _my_ clones, when they've been trained to shoot you on sight?!" Starscream's holoform leapt out of the bushes, startling Miko. The cyber-ninjas just stared at the former Decepticon Second-In-Command.

Lockdown said: "Perhaps having him come along won't be such a bad idea."

"How do you figure that?" Prowl wanted to know, subconsciously moving Miko behind him, so that he was between her and Starscream. He crossed his arms, and waited.

"Well, I've got experience in hunting down other bots - I'm the best." Lockdown stated.

"You're also modest." Miko told him.

"You know, it's not a good idea to mouth off to somebody bigger than you." Jazz whispered to her.

"It's okay, I got you guys to back me up." Miko replied, and Jazz rolled his eyes.

Lockdown went on: "But, I can't fly and, chances are, whichever bot we're chasing _will_ be."

"That's right." Starscream agreed with him. "I'm far more superior than my clones, so I'm sure I'll have no trouble catching up to whichever of my clones it is and...convincing them to help."

"Okay, I have just one question," Miko peeked out from behind Prowl. "_Why_?"

"Why what?" Starscream snapped.

"Why are you helping us?" Miko elaborated. "You're the _bad_ guy, remember?"

"Technically, since your kind _imprisoned_ Megatron, I'm no more a Decepticon than any of you." Starscream stated.

"Hmm, good point..." Prowl muttered. One thing still didn't make any sense, however. "But, why did you come _here_, of all places, and start attacking people?"

Starscream looked at him. "You don't know, do you?"

"Know what?" Prowl looked at him hard, trying to see if he was lying. There was a hint of loathing in the Decepticon's red eyes, but it wasn't aimed at Starscream.

"There's a Vampire in this city." Starscream told them, and everyone gasped. Starscream seemed pleased by their reactions. "Soundwave told me." He added.

"What?" Prowl blinked. "Soundwave's in Kyoto?"

"No," Starscream shook his head. "He and his human girlfriend are hunting a Vampire just south of Vancouver."

"Human girlfriend?" Jazz repeated.

"Isn't it too hot for a Vampire in Vancouver?" Miko wondered.

"You're thinking of Vanuatu." Prowl told her.

"Oh."

"So, there's still Vampires in this world." Lockdown, for some reason, didn't seem surprised.

"Did you know?" Prowl asked him.

"I had a hunch." Lockdown replied. "Now, don't look at me that way, kid, I told you - I've cut all of my ties with them. I'm no more one of them than what you are."

Prowl sighed. "Okay, so back to the original subject - Starscream, you came here to destroy the entire city, in hopes that the Vampire would get destroyed as well?"

Starscream nodded.

"_Omae baka darou_?!" Miko cried, and Starscream stiffened. She went on with: "You can't just destroy an entire city to get _one_ Vampire, you-" She was cut off when Jazz clapped a hand over her mouth. "Mmh-fmm-hmm-grr..."

Prowl said: "So, we've got a Vampire outbreak to contend with as well...and, I don't feel right about leaving Miko here before this one's taken care of." He sighed. _Always_ another distraction...

Miko stopped trying to bite Jazz, and he let her go. Miko said: "So, take me with you!"

"But, Miko, what about your parents?" Prowl asked her.

"Oh, they won't mind." Miko waved a careless hand. "Come on, I wanna go back to America - don't leave me out of this again!" She begged.

"No." Prowl said firmly. "Jazz, if you feel okay going with Lockdown and Starscream, then I'll take Miko back to Tokyo, and then deal with the Vampire."

"Prowl!" Miko complained.

Prowl ignored her. "Then, I'll fly back to Detroit, and find out from Sari where the..."

"She won't tell you!" Miko said stubbornly. She looked defiant. "I'll tell her not to tell you, unless you take me! And, I also won't tell you where Flora saw that flying Decepticon, either!"

Prowl and Jazz looked shocked.

Starscream looked impressed. "Hey, you'd make a pretty good Decepticon, if you weren't human."

"Uh, you _are_ aware she hates you, right Starscream?" Lockdown pointed out.

"I am but half kidding." Starscream replied.

"Which means you're half serious." Lockdown retorted.

"And I'm _fully_ serious!" Miko picked up her panda. "You guys are forgetting that Sari, Flora and I are Autobots, too!" She took out her pendant. "See? This symbol means I'm one of _you_ guys!" Tears filled her eyes. "Prowl...Jazz...I miss Emma too...she liked manga and heavy metal music..._please_ let me help you find her again!" She begged.

Prowl glanced at Jazz, and the white cyber-ninja placed his hand son Miko's shoulders. She sniffled, and looked up, tears dripping down her face.

"Miko, sweetspark, there's no _doubt_ that you and the ladies are Autobots." Jazz said emphatically. "Nobot's forgotten that, just like none of us have forgotten about Emma. But, you can help us by giving us all the info, so that we can find her." He sent a suggestion to Prowl, which Prowl didn't like, but what choice did he have?

"_If_ you can convince your parents, and _if_ you tell us what we need to know _before_ we leave today," Prowl told Miko, whose tears faltered. "Then I _might_ consider taking you back to Detroit with me, okay?"

Miko looked at him for a moment, before her eyes dried suspiciously fast, and she grinned. "_Hai_!" She cheered, pumping a fist into the air. "Let me just write down Flora's address for you, okay?!" She quickly scrawled the address of Flora's boarding school in England, in her barely legible hand-writing. She gave the piece of paper to Jazz, who memorized it.

"Are you going to hold onto the Warp Device, Autobot?" Starscream casually asked Prowl.

Prowl glared at him. "_Yes_." He said, aware of the device in his pocket. The look in his blue eyes told Starscream that he still didn't trust him.

Starscream glared back at him, before transforming into his robot mode, and disappearing into the clouds, as Jazz and Lockdown did the same and returned to the Death's Head.

Miko and Prowl watched them go, before Miko turned to Prowl. "I missed you." She said simply.

Prowl smiled gently. "I know." He was thinking about Emma, though, and what their reunion would be like.

Miko suddenly gasped. "Oh no!" She clapped a hand over her mouth.

"What is it?!" Prowl exclaimed.

"My school group!" When Prowl looked at her questioningly, she explained: "I was supposed to be back at the meeting spot forty-five minutes ago!"

"_How_ could you forget something like that?" Prowl groaned. "They'll all be there, waiting for you, and they might've even called the pol..."

"Oh no!" Miko cried again, and Prowl gave her a Look. "I'm sorry, but, I left Flora on hold when I called her in England, _and_ I reversed the charges!" Prowl was horrified. "Her _phone_ bill!" She dug her phone put of her bag, and then had to hold it away from her ear, as Flora began screaming out a string of sentences, most of them curse words.

Flora finally stopped yelling, and Miko took the chance to say: "Tell Jazz I said hi when you see him soon, bye Flora!" The hung up quickly, and then looked at Prowl. "One down, and...?"

Prowl nodded.

* * *

A group of Japanese school students stood nervously at the Sanjo Station. The boys wore white shirts and dark green trousers with black shoes. The girls wore white blouses with a dark green sailor collar and red string bow, a knee-length dark green pleated skirt and black shoes.

Most of them were worried about their missing classmate, with three exceptions that couldn't care less.

Rin and her friends stood a few feet away from the main group, and whispered loudly about what could have happened to Miko.

"~Hey!~" Miko's friend, Risa Yagami, glared over at the bullies. "~Miko is _not_ at the red-light district - Kyoto doesn't even _have_ one of those!~" She added, as an afterthought.

"~That's enough!~" The teacher, Minako Ikari, snapped, closing her mobile phone as she failed to reach Miko for the eight time. ~_What do I do?! I've never lost a student before, and after that Decepticon attacked...why me?!_~

"_Gomen, Sensei_." The students muttered, just as a motorcycle pulled up.

* * *

Miko knew she looked strange motorbike-riding in a skirt, but she didn't care. As soon as Prowl pulled up outside the station, and her classmates turned to her, Miko made sure to take her holoform-projected (and completely real) helmet off dramatically, and then let it vanish, as she dismounted, and walked smartly past Rin and her friends.

"Hi there, girls." Miko said in English, before she was glomped by her friend.

"~_Miko-Chan, I was SO worried, where have you been_?!~" Risa cried, before stopping and looking in awe, as Prowl's holoform disappeared. "~Is...is that a...?~" She couldn't finish her sentence.

"_Minna_," Miko said, grinning a grin that was more like a smirk, and mainly directed at her bullies. "~I'd like you to meet my close and personal friend, the Autobot ~cyber-ninja~, Prowl.~"

Prowl transformed into his robot-mode, making everybody gasp, but they relaxed when they saw his blue optics, and red Autobot symbol. He walked a few paces, and then assumed his holoform. Rin's eyes just about bugged out of her head.

Prowl walked straight up to Ikari-Sensei, bowed respectfully, and then began to explain the situation in as little detail as he could. Luckily, the students were all leaving as well; due to Starscream's attack, they were all heading back to Tokyo that very night.

Miko, meanwhile, was surrounded by students, and she was happy to tell them all she could.

Rin, meanwhile, glared daggers at her, which just made Miko's day! She was happy, as well, that things were _finally_ looking up and, she suspected, they could get back to their adventuring with the Autobots! And, it seemed, Lockdown wasn't so bad, but Miko wasn't so sure about Starscream...she _still_ hadn't found out why he wanted to help...

* * *

Meanwhile, something watched from the shadows of a building, and watched as Miko and Prowl walked out of the train station. Snarling slightly, the creature fixed its red-gaze on Prowl, before darting over to the train whose name it had just heard being mentioned by the teacher.

The passengers boarded the train, which presently moved out of the station...with a Vampire clinging to the bottom of the locomotive!


	5. Vampire Games

TRANSFORMERS ANIMATED

Monochrome Spectrum

* * *

Sequel to Grey Matter - Silver Lining. Emma - the All-Spark Carrier - has been sent back to her own dimension, but there are those that will simply not let her go - not that she wants them to! What surprises does Emma's life hold, and how will the Transformers react to it? Also, their reunion will bring about a new quest to revive the All-Spark, and it is the only thing that can defeat the Vampire Lord, Fhantom...

* * *

**~Parental Warning~**

This chapter contains the following, which may not be suitable for young people:

. Low level animated violence

. Adult themes

. Supernatural themes

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

zrexheartz - yup. ^^

* * *

CHAPTER FIVE

Vampire Games

* * *

"Are you alright, Flora?" Flora's best friend in England, Aimee McNamara, asked her, as they walked down the staircase of Bridget Towers Girls School. It wasn't quite Hogwarts (not that anybody in this world knew what Hogwarts was) but the school had been built in 1650, and featured four towers where the four school houses had their dormitories and common rooms. "You seem a bit...worried..."

"Do I?" Flora sighed. She tugged at the hem of her school uniform - a white short-sleeved shirt, a blue vest, a blue and maroon plaid skirt, black stockings and shoes.

Aimee nodded. "Yeah...something happen? That phone-call you got yesterday, perhaps...? Or...?"

"I do not wish to talk about it!" Flora closed her eyes and put a hand to her forehead. She had a headache. What had Miko meant by 'say hi to Jazz'? Did she mean that Jazz was coming to London? Flora sighed. She'd seen that strange flying Decepticon last night as well, but hadn't been able to get in contact with Miko again. Flora thought that, considering that Starscream had shown up in Kyoto, the students might be headed back to Tokyo. So, Miko was probably on the train, and out of range...

Flora and Aimee entered the dining hall, and went to sit with their other best friend, Violet Winters. She was holding a newspaper, and Flora caught sight of the headlines, as she sat down on the other side of the long table.

"Another murder?" She muttered, and Violet nodded, handing her the paper. Flora read the article, feeling more and more disturbed the more she read. The words 'female', 'blood' and 'night' kept on appearing, and Flora knew, even if nobody else around her did, what was going on.

A Vampire.

It seemed a lifetime ago she'd encountered that one in Detroit; a horrible and demonic beast named Fang, that had attacked them on the night of Sari's birthday. Before that, another Vampire had attacked the reporter, Scarlet Garcia, but she'd thankfully been resurrected by Emma. Scarlet's body had been found in a way that was similar to all of these recent murders, and some newspapers had even made the connection between the two incidents. But, then again, murders like this were also being reported in other parts of the world - mostly in places where the temperature rarely got over fifteen degrees Celsius.

It made Flora angry, to think that the Autobots weren't doing a thing about it! Did they even care about Earth anymore?!

Flora sighed again, and busied herself with her breakfast. Just then, she heard people whispering, and looked up as one of the teachers approached her.

"Miss. Fanzone, there is somebody here to see you." The teacher sounded slightly annoyed, and Flora knew why. The teachers didn't really like visitors showing up on weekdays. Whoever it was must have very good persuasion skills. The teacher motioned to the door. "He's over there."

Flora looked, and then looked again. She blinked, to make sure she wasn't seeing things, and then realised that Miko had been right.

"J-Jazz?" Flora couldn't believe it, but slowly she started to smile, and stood up, walking towards the cyber-ninja's holoform. "I-I can't believe it...it's so good to see you!" She said, giving him a hug when she reached him (and, her fellow students began to whisper even more).

Jazz hugged her back, before ruffling her blonde hair. "Hey, little lady. Diggin' the uniform."

Flora rolled her eyes. "Okay, cut the small talk, Jazz - why are you here?" She put her hands on her hips.

Jazz grinned. "It's a long story, Flora..."

"I'm listening." Flora replied, and Jazz put a hand on her shoulder, and guided her out of the dining hall.

"Okay then, let's take five...thousand."

Flora gaped. The situation couldn't be _that_ hard to explain, could it?

* * *

Meanwhile, Starscream and Lockdown were aboard the Death's Head, tracking an energy signature.

"That's not a Decepticon signature..." Lockdown muttered, staring at the screen thoughtfully.

"It's not an Autobot one, is it?" Starscream wanted to know.

Lockdown shook his head. "No...maybe a neutral. Still, we should check it out...looks like it's heading for somewhere called the Warwick Reservoir..."

Starscream nodded. "Agreed...so, Lockdown..."

Lockdown didn't look at him, but he had a feeling that the conversation was about to take an unexpected turn.

"Why are you working with the Autobots?" Starscream wanted to know.

"Why are_ you_ working with them?" Lockdown challenged him.

Starscream held up his hands. "I prefer to think of it as a _temporary agreement_ in our time of need, so that we can all get _just_ what we want."

"Which is?" Lockdown finally turned to look at him, and raised an optic ridge at the expression on Starscream's face, which could only be described as diabolical.

_Don't say revenge!_ Starscream told himself, and rearranged the look on his face so that he appeared to be wistful. "I want my spark-partner back." He told Lockdown.

Lockdown stared at him for a moment, before turning back to his computer screen. "Wuss." He muttered.

"_What did you call me_?!"

* * *

Meanwhile, it was nightfall in Japan. The train was making it's way steadily from Kyoto back to Tokyo, although most of the students were _not_ happy about having to leave early. Miko was one of them, but she had also been talking to Prowl nonstop for about an hour and a half.

"To our left is Lake Hamana, and to our right is the Enshu-Nada Sea!" Miko told Prowl, pointing out the window. "Now that you can _see_ the sea, since it's on the other side of the train, but it's there, alright! Heh, see the sea..."

"Miko..." Prowl muttered, closing his eyes briefly. "You had coffee before, didn't you?"

"_Konpeitō_ **and** coffee!" Miko exclaimed.

Prowl rolled his eyes. He then glanced at the empty seat next to Miko. Her friend, Risa, had gone to the bathroom, but that had been about twenty-two minutes ago...why wasn't she back yet?

Just as Prowl was thinking this, Miko suddenly said: "Hey, why isn't Risa-Chan back yet?"

Prowl didn't say anything, because he had suddenly picked up an energy signature, somewhere on-board the train, and it turned his energon to ice in an instant.

He knew that pattern in the creature's energy signature...

"I'll go and look for Risa-Chan." Miko stated, and stood up, but Prowl stood up quickly, and grabbed her arm.

"No, Miko, you stay here - _I'll_ go." Prowl told her.

"She's _my_ friend, and _I'll_ go, because men aren't allowed in the ladies room." Miko said stubbornly.

Prowl sighed in frustration. "Miko, listen to me - there's a _Vampire_ on-board this train, and..."

But Miko suddenly latched onto his arm, and wouldn't let go. "Lemme come too, okay?! You can't leave me here alone with a Vampire on the loose!" She looked up at him, her eyes wide.

"Miko..." Prowl groaned. He could see no way out of this one. "Okay, _fine_, but you have _got_ to be careful..."

"Okay!" Miko cheered.

Prowl face-palmed. "And _quiet_."

"Okay..." She whispered.

* * *

Back in London, Lockdown and Starscream were on the trail of the mysterious Transformer, and were closing in fast. Their target had started using evasive maneuvering, which Lockdown and Starscream were easily able to decipher and, eventually, they closed in on the target...

_Stay on him, Starscream!_ Lockdown commed the Decepticon. _I'll cut him off around the next bend!_

Starscream agreed, and kept the unfamiliar gold race-car in his sights, although...there was _something_ familiar about it...somehow...

Starscream stayed on the gold car's tailpipe, trying to figure out where he knew it from, and also making sure that Lockdown was doing what he _said_ he would be doing. He was. Lockdown was true to his word, and suddenly drove out of the bushes, transforming and attempting to intercept the gold car.

But, just then, a green Chevrolet appeared out of nowhere, and transformed into...a green version of Bumblebee?

No, it was the once fugitive, now neutral, Wasp!

"You Decepticons won't hurt Gold-Bot!" Wasp's voice sounded a lot clearer than it had before he'd been healed by the All-Spark, but he still wasn't entirely cured. There was only so much that the All-Spark could do.

Wasp crash-tackled Lockdown, and they both fell into the lake. The gold car had stopped, and was hesitating, as the two mechs battled in the water, when Starscream swooped down out of the sky.

In an instant, the gold car transformed and the Transformer looked up at Starscream. Starscream stopped his attack in an instant, only for the golden Transformer to leap at him, and use a surprising amount of force to pin the Seeker to the ground.

A pair of brilliant azure optics stared hard into Starscream's red ones and he, for once in his life, found himself speechless, until he realised what had happened.

"Bl-Black_arachnia_?" The Decepticon stuttered. She shocked him, sending a brief wave of pain throughout his entire system, and he screamed, just as he realised what she was doing. "Bl-Blackarachnia, _wait_!" He cried.

"That's Elita - Elita-_One_ to you, Starscream!" She hadn't lost the sharpness to her glossa since reverting to her old-self, and she _really_ hadn't expected to see her old team-mate _here_, of _all_ places! Why had he come here, and what was he doing? Elita didn't know, but she knew one thing - she had to save Wasp from Lockdown!

Elita used the power that she'd stolen from Starscream to fashion herself a pair of wings, which she used to fly out over the lake and grab Wasp by the stabilizing-servo, which made a fairly comic sight, as she carried him this way to the opposite side of the lake, and by then her powers had run out. She dropped him, and together the two of them transformed and began to drive away.

Feeling desperate, Starscream called out again. "_Elita-One_!" She slowed down only slightly, and Starscream took the opportunity to yell out: "We're looking for a Decepticon that looks like me - have you seen him?!"

Elita paused, and then yelled back: "I've seen _her_ - why are you looking for her?!"

Starscream chose his words carefully, although he was still yelling to be heard across the lake (whether water carries sound well or not, was beside the point). "Because she knows where I can find the one that can bring _Angel_ back!"

Elita gasped, transforming instantly. _Angel...my best friend...the one that saved me from what I was..._ She turned around and walked back to the water's edge, staring directly across at Starscream. "Okay, how do I know you're not lying?!"

"Because I love her!"

"Wuss."

"Shut up, Lockdown!"

Elita sighed. Of _course_ the Decepticon did. She had known this, he had _told_ her - she'd had to _listen_ to it for stellar cycles! Still, Angel had restored Elita to her rightful-self and, _if_ there was a chance that she was still alive, then Elita wanted to help find her, so that she could thank her. It didn't mean she had to forgive Optimus and Sentinel and the others, but she would help her best friend.

Elita took a deep breath, and then yelled: "Slipstream usually hangs out in the city, where she's been hunting Vampires...she has to do it by herself because Skywarp won't help her..."

Starscream blinked, and then yelled out the two most un-Starscream-like words. "_Thank You_!"

It was Elita's turn to blink, as Starscream transformed and flew off, leaving Lockdown to follow him on land.

Elita shook her head, and was glad, for the hundredth time, that she and Wasp had chosen to become neutrals...

* * *

There was a knock on the door to Flora and Aimee's room that evening, and Aimee opened the door to find a group of girls huddled there, looking excited.

Flora, sitting on her bed and writing an e-mail to her parents, sighed, and shut her computer. "Let them in, I know what they want." She told Aimee.

So, the girls came in and crowded around Flora on the bed, asking questions about the guy, most of which she could answer until somebody asked if the guy was her boyfriend.

Flora looked up at the speaker, an obnoxious girl named Etoile Parkinson. Etoile straightened up her glasses, and said: "You are well aware that having a _boyfriend_ come visit you on campus is _strictly_ prohibited."

Flora cringed. "He is _not_ my boyfriend." She said firmly. "He already has a sp-girlfriend..."

"What were you going to say?" Another girl asked.

"Yes, it sounded like you were going to say something else!"

"Do tell us, Flora!"

"Who is that guy, _really_?"

Flora sighed. There was no use in trying to hide it any longer. "His name is Jazz. He's one of the Autobots..."

The other girls stared at her for a moment, before they began exclaiming things.

"Do the teachers know?" Etoile asked, tilting her chin up to the ceiling in a condescending way.

"No, and I'm not planning on telling them!" Flora snapped.

"You tell her, Flora!" Somebody cheered.

Etoile, however, just rolled her eyes and flounced out of the room without another word.

"Oh, Ms. Etoile Parkinson thinks she's the bees-knees!" Aimee joked, and the other girls giggled.

"So, what's going on, Flora?" Somebody asked.

"Yes, tell us, Flora!"

Flora sighed again. "Well, there's not much to tell, really. The Autobots crash-landed in Detroit fifty-two years ago, and then awakened two years ago or so, and had to protect the All-Spark - that's the most powerful artifact in the universe - from the evil Decepticons. I met them all when I went back to Detroit to see my parents."

"So, you were involved in the war?" Aimee's eyes were wide.

Flora nodded. "Yes, that's right." She looked down. "Well, my Dad _is_ the chief of police, so that helped..."

"Why _ever_ did you decide to come back here where it's _so_ boring?" A tall girl perched by the windowsill asked her.

"Well, the final battle with the Decepticons was taking place," Flora explained. "And it would've been too dangerous for me to stay in Detroit...the Autobots won, of course, which is all that really matters." She shrugged.

"So, that cute guy from today was one of the Autobots?" A red-haired girl wanted to know.

"Yes, but he already has a girlfriend, or a spark-partner, as they're called." Flora replied, and the red-head looked disappointed.

Aimee said: "I thought they were robots..."

"They are," Flora replied. "But they have human forms to help them blend in on Earth better, as well as their vehicle forms..."

"So, what was he doing here?" Aimee asked.

Flora closed her eyes briefly. "Well, the All-Spark was being carried by a human, named Emma."

"Ooh..." All of the girls breathed.

"Unfortunately, she sacrificed herself after the final battle, to bring one of the Autobots back to life." Flora opened her eyes, and looked at the faces of the other girls. They were enthralled. "But, Jazz thinks he knows a way to get her back, so he's come here looking for another Transformer that can help him...Jazz will do _anything_ to get her back..." She added, recalling almost the _exact_ same words that the cyber-ninja had spoken to her that morning.

"How romantic..." Somebody sighed.

"Well, _I_ think a human having a relationship with a _robot_ is just disgusting." A voice said from the doorway, and they all looked over at Etoile.

Flora didn't bother to mention that Emma wasn't entirely human herself.

"You're just jealous, Etoile." Violet rolled her eyes. "You're jealous that Flora and Emma got to be involved in a war and all that."

"I am _not_ jealous!" Etoile lied.

Aimee looked thoughtful. "Come to think of it...I don't know which Transformer Jazz is looking for, but when we were shopping for books near Mayfair on Saturday, I thought I saw a car without a driver...a green Chevrolet..."

Flora was disappointed. "Oh, well, the Transformer Jazz is looking for is a..." Flora then stopped. She thought about what Aimee had just said. She froze.

"Are you okay, Flora?" Violet looked at her strangely. "Are you crying?"

Flora shook her head quickly and swiped at her eyes. "No, but I need to find that car, _now_!" She hurried to her wardrobe and flung it open, grabbing the first outfit that she saw.

"You're leaving _now_?!" Violet and Aimee exclaimed in unison.

"Yes now!" Flora affirmed, pulling the outfit on over her nightgown.

Etoile's eyes were wide behind her glasses. "I'm telling Ms. Fairborne!" She said quickly, referring to their dorm mistress, as she turned to go.

Flora's eyes widened as well. If Ms. Fairborne found out, then there was _no way_ Flora would be able to find Wasp! By morning, it might be too late! It might even be too late now, but still Flora _had_ to try! She moved quickly, blocking Etoile's path of escape, and then jabbing her swiftly in the neck. Etoile collapsed onto the floor.

The other girls gasped, and crowded around her crumpled form.

"Whoa..." Aimee breathed.

"You _killed_ her!" The red-head exclaimed, looking accusingly at Flora.

"Did not!" The blonde said quickly. "It's pressure points, it's something I learned from my martial-arts teacher back in Detroit!"

"You are _so_ dead, Flora." Violet informed her, though she was smiling slightly,just as there was a tap on the window, and they all turned to see Jazz. He was in his robot-mode, and clinging to the side of the wall.

Flora immediately ran to the window and opened. "Jazz, did you...?!"

The cyber-ninja nodded. "Got a major vibe says we should be groovin' on down to where your pal says she saw that Chevvy - gotta check to see if he's on the level, cool cat."

"Umm, what did he say?" Violet whispered, and Aimee shrugged.

Flora nodded, and began to hoist herself out the window. "But, what about Skywarp?"

"Relax - got my posse checkin' out the scene with the 'Con." Jazz replied, and held Flora in his hand as he let go of the wall.

The other girls gasped, and ran to the window, in time to see Jazz transform with Flora in the passenger seat, and he sped away into the night.

"That is _so_ cool." Aimee whispered.

Violet nodded in agreement.

* * *

There was something eerily creepy about the train, as Prowl and Miko made their way down the corridor, Miko quivering with anticipation and Prowl on the lookout for anything supernatural. Every sense of his was trained to the task at hand, and he could _definitely_ sense a Vampire, the further down the train they crept. It was a dark energy signature, one that was so different from Autobots and Decepticons. It felt deeper and darker, and _dead_...

Well, as Miko had pointed out, Vampires _were_ living corpses, after all...

Prowl knew that Vampire Transformers had no sparks, only something in their heads that kept them online. He knew how to kill a Vampire, but he just hoped he wouldn't have to kill one in front of Miko...

Miko suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, and her fingernails dug into Prowl's arm. "Listen..." She whispered, her voice shaking (probably from all the sugar she'd consumed earlier). "Do you hear that?"

Prowl did. It was a steady drip-dripping sound, and it was coming from the final corridor, which appeared to be the baggage hold, at the back of the train. The Vampire's energy signature was the strongest from here. "Miko, stay here..." Prowl murmured.

"No." She replied, and continued to walk with him.

Prowl rolled his eyes, and then quietly slid open the door, but a presence behind him made him stop. Him and Miko turned, to see one of Miko's classmates - Rin Tachikawa - shuffling towards them, a strange look on her face, and a blank look in her eyes.

"P-Prowl, what's going on?" Miko muttered, as Rin shuffled past them without really seeing them.

Prowl's blue eyes focused on the look in Rin's dark eyes, and he inhaled sharply. "She's possessed..." He realised, and the Vampire's energy signature pulsed from the back of the train. "Miko, stay very close to me..." He had changed his mind - it would be much safer if she stayed with him.

Miko nodded, silent now.

They made their way after Rin and, presently, she came to a spot where more students were. They all had the same blank look in their eyes, and something sharp was glittering in their hands - razor-blades!

Prowl tensed, and that was when he noticed that Miko was no longer at his side. He looked around wildly, and saw her pushing her way through the possessed students. Prowl's energon turned to ice, and he made his way after her. This was dangerous - she was going to get herself killed!

"~_My fellow humans_!~" A voice from the very back of the train, and Miko stopped dead in her tracks again, allowing Prowl to catch up to her. He knew why she had stopped. "_Sacrifice yourselves to the Vampire_! _Death to humans_!"

"~_Death to humans_!~" Rin agreed, almost gleefully.

The other students took up Risa's chant, and raised their arms. They held the razor-blades against the insides of their forearms, preparing to slice, and moved out of the way slightly, revealing for the first time, the very back of the train.

The Vampire stood there calmly. It was in its holoform, and looked like a completely black-clad ninja, with only red eyes gleaming through slits in the face-mask.

Next to him was Risa.

She had a completely maniacal grin on her face, and blood was streaming down her wrist in rivers, dripping into a metal bucket at her feet.

"~_My fellow humans, let us offer our precious blood to the Vampire, before we jump and end our miserable lives_!~" Risa said, gesturing to the door behind her which, Prowl and Miko noticed for the first time, was open. Risa turned and stood at the open door of the fast-moving train. "~_Follow me into a better world_!~" She exclaimed.

"_NO_!" Miko screamed, and launched herself at her best friend just as she jumped. She wrapped her arms around Risa's waist, and both of them fell.

Prowl couldn't believe it.

The Vampire hissed angrily, and then noticed Prowl. It stared at him for a moment - and then it attacked!

* * *

Starscream and Lockdown were back onboard Death's Head, and trying to figure out what to do next.

"If we find that Vampire, we find your fem-bot clone." Lockdown stated, glancing at Starscream. "I think we've got a better chance of tracking the Vampire, since your clones seemed to have developed some form of cloaking."

Starscream groaned. "I don't know _where_ went wrong..." He closed his optics briefly.

"Maybe you did a better job with the _other_ two?" Lockdown asked casually, and Starscream's optics flew open.

"_What did you say_?!"

Lockdown stood up. "Look, you can deny it all you want, Starscream, but you and I _both_ know those techno-organic twins are half yours!" Starscream was speechless. "What, don't tell me she never told you..."

"As a matter-of-fact, she _did_ tell me..." Starscream began, just as an alarm sounded from the computer. "What's that?"

"Scanners picked up the Vampire's energy signature." Lockdown replied, and went over to check. "It's bringing up a visual...now, wait a nanoclick..." He sounded surprised.

"What is it?" Starscream approached him, and looked over his shoulder. "Isn't that Jazz?"

"No..." Lockdown ran another scan. "That's definitely a Vampire...well, I'll be a High-Grade Energon Agave Worm...never thought I'd see _you_ again..." He muttered.

"Friend of yours?" Starscream guessed, sounding disdainful.

Lockdown shrugged. "You could say that...though, with Dimentio, it's hard to tell...but...ooh, you've made a friend...oh dear, _that's_ not good..." He activated his com-link. "Jazz, it's Lockdown. Get to the coordinates I'm sending you, because we've got a hostage situation...uh-huh, that's right, seems a Vampire decided to masquerade as you, and it's got Flora...Jazz?" He sighed. "Hung up on me, of course...come on, he's gonna need help."

"But..."

"_Trust_ me." Lockdown gave Starscream a Look. "Dimentio is _not_ one to be underestimated. He's one of the worst kinds of Vampires, partially because of that disguise-ability of his...he's a Pure-Venom Vampire, like Fhantom."

Starscream's red optics widened slightly. "Let's go!" He said, and they hurried to the doorway of Death's Head, and transformed once they were just outside.

As Starscream took off into the sky, however, he felt like he was being watched and, just then, something appeared to the left of his peripheral vision, and he was suddenly crash-tackled in mid-air!

_Starscream?!_

_Lockdown, just keep moving! I'm fine!_ Starscream turned in mid-air, to glare at his femme clone, Slipstream.

"I was hoping you'd find me!" Slipstream snapped, charging her lasers.

"We don't have _time_ for this, woman!"

"Too bad!"

"I need to find Skywarp to get to Angel!"

That stopped Slipstream. "Angel?"

* * *

Jazz was speeding, and he knew it. He was speeding to get to Flora in time, before the Vampire killed her...or worse. Visions of Emma being attacked and bitten by the Vampire called Fang, last year, were still fresh in his processor, and he increased his speed as he approached the coordinates that Lockdown had sent him.

He transformed swiftly, and looked around, doing a complete three-sixty of the area with his scanners, until he picked up two very similar energy signatures. He turned, and saw two Flora's standing in the entrance to a very dark alleyway.

Jazz stared.

"Jazz, it's me!" One Flora cried out.

"No, Jazz, don't listen to it, I'm the real me!" The other one cried.

"Get away from me, Vampire, you are _not_ me!" The first one countered.

"Your disguises won't fool Jazz!" The second one retorted.

Jazz was at a loss. Which one was the _real_ Flora?

"Jazz, listen, it's me!" The first Flora called to him. It _sounded_ like Flora, but...well, Lockdown had said that this particular Vampire had masqueraded as him, so it seemed that it was smart enough to fool anybody, even Flora. Was this the real Flora?

"No, Jazz, _I'm_ Flora!" The second Flora replied.

"Oh, yeah?" The first Flora gave the second Flora Look. "Then how come I know that I got really upset when I was telling Emma that Wasp was the only guy that ever kissed me?"

The second Flora gasped. "How _do_ you know that?!" She pushed the first Flora. "You stay away from him, Vampire!" Well, this one certainly had Flora's temper, but...how _did_ the first one know about that?

Just as Jazz was trying to decide what to do, he heard the angry sound of an engine, and something suddenly hurtled past his left shoulder, transforming and landing between him and the Flora's.

He was short and he was dark green.

It was Wasp.

_How come he's back to normal?_ Jazz stared at Wasp's back, trying to figure it out, then... _Angel..._

Wasp appeared to be looking at both of the Flora's, his now blue optics narrowing slightly. Only in this moment, when his spark-partner was in such danger, would he turn his back on an Autobot.

Jazz tilted his head slightly to one side, and then reached out a hand to touch Wasp's shoulder.

The second Flora gasped. "Wasp, look out!"

Wasp gasped, and jumped out of the way, rolling and then glaring at Jazz. "Autobot will not touch me!" He snarled. It seemed he _still_ didn't trust Autobots.

The second Flora, meanwhile, was glaring at Wasp. With her hands on her hips, she told him right off. "On that day we snuck away from the re-opening of Mama Fuyano's Restaurant, you told me you'd _never_ turn your back on an Autobot, Mister! Did you lie to me?! I _hate_ it when people do that!"

Wasp stared at her for a moment. "Flora?" He whispered.

"And _you_!" The second Flora rounded on the first Flora. "I know how you knew - it was because I was telling Emma about that kiss at three o'clock in the morning, when it was dark! Plus, it was right before that other Vampire attacked! You were _spying_ on us!" And, with that, she drew back her hand and slapped the Vampire as hard as she could.

It put a hand up to its face, as Flora backed away slowly, and then Jazz grabbed her from behind and moved her behind him.

Dimentio, still in its Flora disguise, floated up slightly, and a cold chill seemed to fill the air. "I would _so_ love to stay and play, but I've got work to do elsewhere. So, until we meet again. Ciao!" It floated swiftly back into the darkness of the alleyway, and then vanished.

Flora peeked out from around Jazz's leg, as the chill was lifted as soon as Dimentio vanished.

"You okay, cool cat?" Jazz asked her gently.

Flora nodded, looking up at him. "I thought that thing was _you_, until it showed me its real face...I'm sorry..."

"Don't be." Jazz smiled, as Wasp stood up, groaning slightly.

Flora gasped, and ran towards him. "Wasp!" She cried.

Wasp gasped too, and assumed his holoform. "Flora-Bot!"

"Wasp!"

"Flora-Bot!"

"_Wasp_!"

"_Flora-Bot_!"

Jazz turned away from the happy reunion, and commed Lockdown, giving him a quick rundown. Lockdown was quite interested to know that Dimentio had shown Flora its true face, as Dimentio never did that. They both agreed that it was probably not a good thing.

Lockdown asked if there was anybot else with Wasp and, when Jazz said no and enquired as to why, the bounty-hunter said that maybe _she_ wasn't ready, but gave no further hints as to whom he was talking about.

He then said that Starscream had found Slipstream...or, Slipstream had found Starscream...well, at any rate, they'd found each other. She'd told him where Skywarp was.

"Where?" Jazz asked quickly.

"Well, let's put it this way." Jazz could hear the smile in Lockdown's voice. "He, Soundwave and Melody will meet us in Detroit."

Jazz smiled as well. _Finally_, things were moving ahead. "Finally...see ya in a click." He hung up, and then turned to Flora and Wasp. "Now, we gotta think of getting you back to school, cool cat."

"I'll take her." Wasp said firmly, his blue eyes piercing into Jazz with a sting reminiscent of his name.

"S'cool." Jazz held up his hands. "I'll follow. I..."

"Jazz." Flora's amber eyes were suddenly intent. "I'm coming back to Detroit with you!"

"Flora..."

"Even if you don't take me, I know Wasp will!" Flora went on, not hearing him.

"Yes, but..."

"Him and Elita swam across the English Channel, so they can swim across the Chukchi Sea, no problem!"

"That won't be necessary." Jazz replied.

That stopped Flora. "It won't?"

Jazz shook his head. "No. It's too dangerous to leave you here alone, what with Dimentio on the loose and all. Better to get you back to Detroit, and then find out of the other Autobots can make the scene."

Flora looked thrilled, but Wasp began to look worried. "Other...Autobots?"

Flora patted his shoulder. "Don't worry Wasp, you've got rights!" She smiled now. "I won't let you get hurt. Well, shall we go?" She asked them both, glancing between the two. _There appears to be a chasm between them..._

The two mechs nodded, and transformed, Wasp opening the passenger door and allowing Flora to climb in. She was so happy to be back with Wasp, that she almost forgot about what was waiting for her back at the school.

She was reminded, however, when she saw an ambulance out the front, and Ms. Fairborne waiting for her.

"Uh-oh..." Flora muttered, as Wasp stopped, and let her out.

"_Young lady, where HAVE you been?!_" Ms. Fairborne thundered, charging across the lawn towards her, but she stopped when Jazz and Wasp both transformed, and Wasp picked up Flora.

"Don't yell at Flora-Bot, old lady!" Wasp glared at a stunned Ms. Fairborne. "Flora-Bot didn't do anything wrong..."

"What's the sitch, Ma'Am?" Jazz asked politely.

"Sh-she knocked another student _unconscious_!" Ms. Fairborne stuttered, just as the ambulance medics came out, wheeling Etoile on a stretcher.

"She should be awake by now." Flora shrugged, as students crowded around the entranceway to the school, to see the situation and the Transformers.

"So you _did_ do it!" Ms. Fairborne cried.

Flora shrugged again, and motioned for Wasp to put her down. She then trotted across the grass and over to the ambulance, where she leaned over Etoile's still figure. "Hmm..." She said, before reaching over and pinching Etoile's arm - hard.

"_AAUURRGGHH_!" Etoile screamed, leaping up and causing the stretcher she was on to collapse, so that both she and it fell to the ground in a tangled heap.

Many of the students began to laugh, as Flora tried her best not to grin, and just said: "See? I knew she was faking it. A police chief's daughter can _always_ tell." She glanced at Wasp, and he grinned at her. Even Jazz was trying to hide a smile, as the paramedics tried to free Etoile from the stretcher.

"_Ms. Fanzone_!" Ms. Fairborne screamed. "_You are herby suspended from this school until further notice_!"

"Good!" Flora put her hands on her hips, and smiled broadly now. "Because, guess what, Ms. Fairborne? I was planning on leaving, anyway! Jazz, book me the next available flight to Detroit - I'm going home!"

* * *

Prowl tried not to let his anger and panic overwhelm his sense of fighting. He had to concentrate entirely on this battle, because this Vampire was one of the best cyber-ninjas he had ever seen. It seemed that the Vampire could read Prowl's mind and, he reminded himself, anything was possible. Luckily, he was skilled enough himself to dodge most of the Vampire's ferocious attacks.

More to get away from the innocent students than anything, Prowl broke a nearby window, and then beckoned to the Vampire, which took the bait, and followed Prowl onto the roof of the train. Using their abilities to avoid being blown away, Prowl and the Vampire continued to battle.

The Vampire was generally a silent one, and never said a word. It was, Prowl realised, almost like fighting a dark and evil version of himself. It matched Prowl's every move, almost like a mirror-image...

_That's it_! Prowl thought suddenly, and stood up straight. The Vampire also straightened up, eyeing him suspiciously. Prowl shifted his weight slightly, and watched as the Vampire did, also. This was a strange Vampire, one that seemed to mimic its opponent's moves at times, probably to try and get a better understanding of its foes, so that it could strike their weak points.

Trying not to admire the creature's capabilities, Prowl quickly assumed his robot-form. The Vampire stared at him for a moment, before transforming into its own robot-mode. The Vampire's robot-mode was about the same size as Prowl's, and still all-black, from processor to stabilizing-servo.

Prowl swiftly activated a hologram of himself, and kept low-down and out of the Vampire's sight, as it looked at his hologram, and then charged at it.

The Vampire went straight through the hologram, falling over the back of the train and landing on the tracks, where it was shocked by something from the rail-lines, and then launched into the darkness. Prowl heard the faint splash of it landing in the water, but he knew that the battle was over - he couldn't read the Vampire's energy signature anymore, so it was either gone, or too badly injured to come back and fight...

* * *

Miko had been clinging to the train with one hand, and had one arm wrapped firmly around her best friend. Sweat poured down her face, and mingled with the tears. Risa wasn't moving.

Suddenly, something came flying off the roof of the train, and Miko gasped. Her eyes locked gazes with a huge black Vampire, which glared at her before it was electrocuted, and thrown into the river.

Miko sighed, and then heard a groan from Risa. She was alive!

A hand suddenly grabbed Miko's wrist, and she looked up, startled.

Rin Tachikawa looked down at her.

"I will help you." She said, in English, and with complete sincerity, and she did - she yanked both Miko and Risa back onto the train, with help from the other students, all of whom were a little bit confused as to what had just happened to them...

Miko, however, was only worried about Risa!

* * *

In the river, the Vampire floated on the surface, as the sky slowly began to lighten. How could it have lost? It was the _best_!

It blamed that cyber-ninja, and the human girl, and vowed to get its revenge.

A voice suddenly chuckled from above it. "I wouldn't stay there if I were you, unless you wish to be sunburned like never before, Kagami."

The figure that appeared above _looked_ like Miko, but it wasn't. It spoke with a different voice. It was Dimentio, the Shape-Shifter.

Kagami growled.

"Ooh, you got beaten badly, didn't you?" Dimentio chuckled. "Can you move?"

Kagami lunged at Dimentio, and it dodged easily. Kagami landed on the water, its stabilizing-servos not piercing the skin of the liquid surface.

"Oh, of _course_ you'll beat them next time, won't you, Kagami?" Dimentio clasped its hands, transformed into Risa, and said, in her voice: "~_Death to all humans_!~"

Kagami growled in agreement, and nodded.

Dimentio grinned. "We shall see, Kagami. We shall see. Ciao!" It vanished.

Kagami shook its head, and then disappeared into its reflection in the water, just as the sun came up...

* * *

In Detroit, Sari laid her head down on her pillow at Victoria's. She hadn't been home in a few days - she was enjoying her time at Victoria's. The twins and Angie loved her, and Sai and Sunny and Victoria were very hospitable (well, maybe Sunny not so much). She hadn't been online in awhile, and had a ton of homework to do, but that could wait. Right now, she was feeling very sleepy.

As Scuz-Bag rested next to her, Sari's blue eyes fluttered closed, and she fell into a light sleep...

* * *

_It was dark and cold, and the streets were deserted, save for those she knew well. She looked up at the black sky, and tried to scream, but all that she could manage was a terrified gasp._

_A swirling vortex filled the sky, picking up debris and bits of concrete from nearby buildings, and...were those people?! Everything was being sucked into the vortex! It was still some ways away, but too close, _much_ too close for comfort!_

Silence is approaching!

_This was it...this was the end..._

it's not good...I can't win!

_She turned, and saw something bright behind her, in the sky. Good, or evil? She couldn't tell!_

_The swirling vortex was getting closer! She couldn't win! It was too powerful!_

_The light sparkled, and then broke apart into eight separate pieces._

Please help everyone!

_Before it was too late! But, it _was_ too late! The eight pieces of light vanished suddenly._

No, wait! Come back, please, we need your help!

_The vortex sucked up everything in its path, a steady force of black chaos that was unstoppable, and unquenchable._

_She turned around, just as it sucked up those that were most precious to her, shattering their bodies like pieces of clay._

Oh no!

_This was it...this was the end of everything! This was the end of it all!_

* * *

Emma awoke gasping, her face wet with sweat and tears, as she pushed the covers off quickly and sat up, to avoid that feeling she always got at the very end of a nightmare. Her heart pounded in her chest.

That dream...no...it wasn't a dream...it was a...premonition...

The word suddenly came to her, but she didn't know what it meant.

_Prowl...Jazz...everyone..._ Emma thought, her hands shaking as she cupped them around her nose in a triangle-shape. _I wish you were here...I _need_ you here...please..._

Unable to do anything else, in unable to explain what had just happened, Emma got up and put a _Transformers Animated_ DVD into the player. She wrapped herself up in blankets, despite it being a hot night, and watched the story she loved...


	6. Right Back Where We Started From

TRANSFORMERS ANIMATED

Monochrome Spectrum

* * *

Sequel to Grey Matter - Silver Lining. Emma - the All-Spark Carrier - has been sent back to her own dimension, but there are those that will simply not let her go - not that she wants them to! What surprises does Emma's life hold, and how will the Transformers react to it? Also, their reunion will bring about a new quest to revive the All-Spark, and it is the only thing that can defeat the Vampire Lord, Fhantom...

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

AllSpark Princess - here's the update, and the reunion is coming very soon!

zrexheartz - I know, right? :)

* * *

CHAPTER SIX

Right Back Where We Started From

* * *

A pink and white Autobot walked down a hallway, carrying a stack of tablets that she had just filled out, but her mind was on other things. Maybe that was why she walked straight into somebody, coming around the corner from the other side.

Both of them had been holding tablets, but all of them clattered to the ground now, as the two femmes stared at each other. They then looked down at the tablets, and couldn't tell which was which without looking at them closely. Then, Arcee recognized her work, and the orange and yellow Flare-Up recognized her work.

The two femmes chatted as they walked to the med-room, where it seemed they had both needed to go, and handed their reports to Preceptor. He thanked them, as the information on these tablets was going to help him in his research.

As the two femmes walked out of the room, Flare-Up asked Arcee: "Wanna get a drink with me?"

"Sure." Arcee replied, smiling.

Together, the two of them found a cafe, and ordered drinks. They sat out the front, watching Autobots come and go about their daily businesses. Everything seemed so peaceful now, with the war over, but Arcee and Flare-Up both knew that things were still so fragile underneath. From the cyber-ninjas' disappearances to two certain Primes not seeing optic-to-optic, and everything in between. But, for the sake of Cybertron, things _had_ to appear peaceful. Besides, most of the Decepticons were in the stockade, so what could go wrong?

Plenty, apparently.

A blue blur zipped past the two femmes, and they blinked.

The blue blur zipped back the other way.

"Was that...?" Flare-Up looked at Arcee.

"Mmhmm." Arcee nodded and, when the blur zipped back again, she called: "Hey, Blurr!"

Blurr stopped immediately, and went right over to Arcee, and said: "Arcee-we-need-you-immediately-and-you-too-Flare-Up! In-the-Council-Chamber!" He took off again.

Flare-Up stared at Arcee. "Umm...what?"

Arcee sighed. "He said we're needed in the Council Chamber..." She frowned. "This sounds bad..."

* * *

Bulkhead fiddled with the final piece of schematic on-screen, using a teensy-tinsy precision stylus to move the piece into place.

"There!" He exclaimed, as the Space-Bridge fired up again, and his stylus snapped. "Aww, nuts..." He chucked the pieces away over his shoulder.

"_Do you mind_?!" A very grumpy Ratchet had just come into the warehouse, and one of the pieces of the broken stylus had gotten him in the eye.

"Oops, sorry, Doc-Bot." Bulkhead cringed. "What's up?"

Ratchet sighed. "We're needed in the Council Chamber. Ultra Magnus has an important issue he wishes to discuss with us..."

"Is it about the..." Bulkhead began, but Ratchet cut him off.

"Ssh! Yes, but nobody is to _know_ about that!" He reminded Bulkhead. "It would cause planet-wide chaos if word got out!" He looked around frantically, and then motioned to Bulkhead to follow him, which he did.

Bulkhead had, unfortunately, left the Space-Bridge fired up...

* * *

Bumblebee sighed, as he lay on his berth, servos behind his processor as he stared up at the ceiling. He was trying to keep his optics open because, every time he closed them, he saw _her_ face...

Sari.

Bumblebee missed her, more than he'd ever imagined he would. Upon returning to Cybertron, he, Optimus, Bulkhead and Ratchet had been promoted and given new titles, and Bumblebee's was Ambassador - he would handle relations between Earth and Cybertron. The only problem _was_, they weren't letting him have anything to do with Earth! How could he be an Ambassador, if they weren't going to let him _do_ his job?!

None of the _others_ had this problem...Medical Chief Ratchet...Lead Space-Bridge Technician Bulkhead...Optimus Prime/Magnus...

Yeah, _that_ was a problem. Why couldn't Sentinel Prime/Magnus just admit that Optimus was better than him, and let him become Magnus like Ultra Magnus _clearly_ wanted to make him, but _couldn't_ because he, for some reason, had to be fair to Sentinel as well!

And _then_, there had been that obnoxious mech, Rodimus Prime, who'd succeeded in rounding up a lot of Decepticon stragglers on the rims of the galaxy. What was _his_ deal, anyway? Bumblebee didn't like him...

Bumblebee sighed, just as the doors to his room opened, and Jetfire and Jetstorm entered.

"Bumblebee," Jetfire said. "Ultra Magnus sir wishes to be-see you in Council Chamber."

Bumblebee nodded, and got up. "Maybe they're _finally_ letting me go back to Earth!" He said out-loud.

"Actually," Jetstorm informed him. "Is to name new Magnus, yes?"

"_What_?!" Bumblebee shrieked. "What about _my_ problem?!" He took off running, leaving the surprised Jet-Twins to run after him.

* * *

On Earth, Sari sat in her class-room at school, listening to the teacher talk about America's war for independence.

_Please let the bell ring, pleeeaaase..._ Sari thought, resting her head in her hand. She didn't mind Earth history but, sometimes, she'd _much_ rather be studying Cybertron's history. She wondered if she could suggest that at schools. Intergalactic Relations, the class would be called. She and Bumblebee could teach it together...

Absentmindedly, Sari drew a picture with a yellow highlighter, and didn't realize she was drawing her best friend's alt. mode until it was finished. Staring at it, Sari could _almost_ hear Bumblebee's voice, picture him laughing at a show they were watching, or complaining when she beat him at video games. Sari smiled sadly. When would her life begin again?

"Ms. Sumdac?" The teacher suddenly waved a hand in front of Sari's face, and she jumped, her texta flying across the classroom, where somebody caught it. "Your, uh, _guardian_ is here to pick you up."

Sari looked up, and was surprised to see Sunstreaker's holoform, glaring at her from the doorway. In his hand, he held the yellow highlighter. "Hey, watch it Sari, you almost got me in the face!"

Sari rolled her eyes. "Sorry, Sunstreaker..." She stood up. "Wait, what's going on? ...Is my Dad okay?!"

It was Sunny's turn to roll his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, everything's fine. Apparently there's a surprise, so I'm just supposed to pick you up and take you somewhere."

"Okay, where?"

"If I _told_ you, it wouldn't _be_ a surprise now, would it?!" Sunny threw his hands up in the air. "Just hurry up, okay?"

"Sheesh, _touchy_." Sari muttered, and then ducked as the yellow highlighter came flying at her.

* * *

Sari eyed the sign for the Detroit Metro Wayne County Airport but, no matter how many times she asked him, Sunstreaker would not tell her why they were here. It got to the point when, after she called him _Sunflower_, he opened the door and dumped her in the car park, so she had to walk for about a kilometer and a half before Sideswipe came and picked her up.

He drove her up to the front of the airport and, after being harassed by the White Zone Inspector, they walked into the airport together, and saw Sunny waiting for them, hands in his pockets, and glowering.

"_Flight 093T7162, from Narita Airport, Tokyo, now coming in for landing."_

Sunstreaker led them over to the cafe, where Victoria was waiting with Angie and the twins. Angie was eating an ice-cream, and the twins were eating donuts. Sari couldn't say, exactly, but she thought that, perhaps, the twins' obsession with donuts came from the amount that Emma had consumed when she was carrying them. That, and green tea ice-cream with red-beam paste...

"Sari, look at this!" Aquilla called to her, and turned around the big, leather-bound photo album that she and her sister were looking through. It had been given to them and their Mother by Jazz and Prowl at Christmas, and was filled with things the cyber-ninjas had been told by Emma about her own family, as well as photos that they'd gotten off her computer.

The picture Aquilla was pointing to was of a little girl, no older than four. She was wearing a pink jumpsuit, and holding a white rabbit, although she looked more like she was strangling the poor thing, but that might've been because it was nearly as big as she was. The thing was, the little brown-haired girl with the hazel eyes looked an awful lot like Aquilla and Audrey, so much in fact that Sari had to do a double-take, and then she saw the date at the bottom of the photograph. November 12th, 1994.

"Oh, wow!" Sari exclaimed, taking the book and examining it. "Your Mummy sure looked an awful lot like you two, didn't she?"

Both twins nodded, and then Audrey said quietly: "More like me, though."

"No, me!" Aquilla said immediately.

"_Enough_, you two." Victoria rolled her eyes, and then smiled up at Sari. "How was school, sweetie?"

"Fine." Sari lied. "Victoria, what are we doing here?"

Victoria smiled mysteriously. "You'll see." She said.

Sari groaned but, just then, something caught her eye. It was her Dad, and Saipriya, and they were with Carmine and Fuchsia Fanzone, and Hiroshi and Michiyo Fuyano.

Sari caught her Dad's eye, and waved to him. The adults came over, and everyone said hello.

"_Flight 95HD3CL1 from Heathrow Airport, London, now coming in for landing._"

Sari was starting to feel like she knew what was going on, but...no...it _couldn't_ be..._could_ it?

Sari got her answer in fifteen minutes, when passengers from the flight from Japan came streaming in through the doorway. Most of them were dressed in a kind of tourist-y way, and snapped pictures of everything that moved.

Only one person stood out from them, because she was wearing a short tartan red skirt and black t-shirt with skull and crossbones on it, and had spiky black hair dyed pink at the front.

"No...no way..." Sari gasped, and then she grinned. "Miko! Hey, Miko!"

"Sari!" Miko cried, and ran to her. The two girls met in the middle of the airport, and hugged happily. People smiled at them as they walked by. Japanese tourists snapped pictures of the two reunited best-friends.

"What are you doing here?" Sari exclaimed, stepping back and looking happily at Miko. "This is so...it's great to see you!"

"Are you surprised?" Miko laughed. "We wanted it to be a surprise!"

"We?" Sari repeated, and then she saw who was standing behind Miko, carrying their hand-luggage.

Prowl looked at Sari, and then smiled lightly. "Hello, Sari."

"Hello, Prowl." Sari half-smiled back at him. "Long time, no see."

Prowl sighed. "I know..."

"What brings you back here?" Sari asked tightly, but Prowl couldn't answer because the others had approached them, and there were more helloes to be said.

Sari, meanwhile, appeared to be _glaring_ at Prowl, and he shifted uncomfortably under her icy blue gaze, knowing that she was upset with him right now, but wasn't going to ruin Miko's homecoming.

Prowl sensed when Jazz entered the airport, and knew that with him were Flora and Wasp. Lockdown, Starscream and Skywarp were going to travel via Death's Head.

When Sari and Miko caught sight of Flora, there was _more_ screaming and hugging, although Flora's parents also wanted a chance to greet her, and Sari was equally angry at Jazz, and _everybody_ was a little bit wary of Wasp, but couldn't say anything because Flora was listening.

So, Sari, Miko and Flora didn't shut up for the entire car-ride back to Sumdac Tower. They rode in Flora's Dad's car, and chatted non-stop.

Miko told them about her best friend recovering in hospital, and about her rival, Rin, pretending to be nice because she wanted to get close to Prowl, but Rin had been shocked to hear that Prowl was already spoken for.

"And then I left quickly without giving her time to respond." Miko said proudly.

"Sound like you had some excitement back in Tokyo, Miko." Sari told her.

"Yeah, 'Cept I forgot to tell my parents I was leaving."

Flora and Sari stared.

Miko shrugged casually, and then said to Flora: "So, Flora-The-Explorer, how was _your_ time back in London?" She grinned. "Did you _really_ get suspended for using ninja nerve-blows on another student?"

Sari rolled her blue eyes. "Puh-_lease_, Miko, it's _not_ funny! Flora was lucky not to get expelled!"

"I think I was lucky not to get arrested, actually..." Flora muttered.

"Too right, young lady." Her Father said, from the front of the car.

Miko continued to grin, and then her cellphone rang.

"Now, I _wonder_ who _that_ could be, _Miko_." Flora jabbed the Japanese girl with her elbow.

Miko stuck her tongue out at her, before answering her phone. "_Moshi-moshi...hai, 'Kaasan..._" She stopped talking.

They could hear frantic screaming on the other end, and Miko tried her best to calm her Mother down.

"What do Miko's parents _do_, anyway?" Sari whispered to Flora.

"Umm, I think she said her Mum's an interior designer, and her Dad's a politician." Flora whispered back.

"And Miko wants to be a rock-star/artist/horror film costume designer? Bizarre..." Sari muttered.

"..._gomenasai! Watashi wa..._"

"You're telling me." Flora rolled her eyes. "She's crazy on a cellular level."

"_...Sari to issho ni kurasu m_ētoru - I heard that, you Boarding-School-Reject! _Ah, sumi, de wa nai anata no, 'Kaasan..._"

Still, as Sari leaned back in her seat, she had to smile. Things were suddenly starting to get back to normal...

* * *

"As you all know," Ultra Magnus deep baritone carried throughout the Council Chamber. Sixteen Autobots listened attentively, although Bumblebee was scowling because he hadn't gotten his problem addressed yet. "With the containment of the Decepticon menace, as of the capture of their leader, Megatron, the state of affairs here on Cybertron have been relatively peaceful. However, this all changed with the news that Optimus Prime has just given me." He glanced at the tall red, blue and silver bot. "Optimus Prime, please present your report to the chamber."

Fourteen pairs of blue optics and one pair of yellow ones turned to face Optimus. He noted the different expressions on everyones faces - Sentinel looked like he couldn't care less what Optimus had to say, Bumblebee was scowling but not necessarily at his boss, Blurr was alternating between looking serious and smiling at Arcee (no surprises _there_), and Ratchet and Red-Alert _both_ looked like they knew what was coming.

Optimus sighed, and pretended to consult his data-pad. No matter how many times he had done this in the past six months, he _still_ felt nervous when addressing all of these bots. Sentinel, Blurr, Jetfire, Jetstorm, Rodimus, Hotshot, Warpath, Ironhide, Preceptor, Red-Alert, Arcee and Flare-Up, that is...he was used to Ratchet, Bumblebee and Bulkhead.

Where were Jazz and Prowl...? Optimus had no idea...were they on Earth again? Or, had something happened to them?

Optimus cleared his throat, and glanced once more around the room, catching sight of somebot he didn't know, standing at the back of the room. She was pink, red and grey, and there was a steady look in her blue optics. Who was she?

Something about her seemed to spur Optimus into _finally_ beginning his report, however, and he started speaking. "Though the Decepticon menace has been taken care of, there is still another matter which needs addressing." Optimus happened to glance at Sentinel when he said this, and caught the look in his optics. It said: _Don't let this be about that organic with the All-Spark..._

It wasn't. Not really...

"When on Earth, some of my team-mates and I came across a creature that attacked us, and posed a serious threat to us and the All-Spark. It was like us; that is, it was, at least partially, made of technological components, but other parts of it appeared to be organic."

Bumblebee and Bulkhead exchanged a glance, suddenly realising where this was going.

"A Vampire."

Sentinel's optics just about bugged right out of his head, and he said: "A _Vampire_?! Optimus, what are you...?!" He looked across at Ultra Magnus. "Sir, you can't _really_ believe...Vampires _don't_ exist, I mean..."

Optimus interrupted Sentinel. "I also saw Fhantom."

Sentinel froze.

"He appeared, and took the life of his own subordinate." Optimus said. "I believe he desired the power of the All-Spark, and would stop at nothing to get his servos on it...however, with Emma transported back to her own dimension, that seems impossible, and...yet..."

"It is entirely possible that Fhantom has means of traveling across dimensions." Ultra Magnus agreed. "And, yes Sentinel, I _do_ believe Optimus' story. Vampires were once a common problem for Cybertron and its sister planet..."

"Teramina..." Optimus muttered, and Sentinel gave him a sharp look.

The blue and orange bot then turned to Ultra Magnus, and said: "If that's true sir, then we will destroy these atrocities, the way we destroyed the Decepticons!"

"There's that _we_ business, again..." Bumblebee whispered to Bulkhead.

"Sentinel Prime," Ultra Magnus said, in his commanding voice. "In that instance we knew how to fight our enemies. But, the Vampires are still foreign to us."

"Sir," Red-Alert spoke up. "If I may...I believe that the Decepticons themselves may know a thing or two about combating the Vampires, considering what happened all those stellar cycles ago..."

Ultra Magnus nodded. "Very well, then, Red-Alert. Have a team interrogate them as soon as possible. Meanwhile, Optimus Prime...where do you suggest we begin hunting for the Vampires?"

Optimus was surprised, to say the very least. Since when did Ultra Magnus ask for his opinion on these sorts of things? True, their relationship had been repaired since the Decepticons had been captured, but it was still a bit rocky. Ultra Magnus still hadn't quite forgiven Optimus for Elita's fate...

Ignoring Sentinel's glare, Optimus looked at his commander, and said: "Earth."

Bumblebee's head snapped up, and his processor began whirring with thoughts. It was now or never! "Uh, sir!" He raised his servo, much to everybot's amusement.

Ultra Magnus turned to him. "Yes?"

"Well, sir, as, uh, Ambassador for the planet Earth, and everything, I think it's my, err, _duty_, to go with whoever _else_ is going since it's, like, my job and all...sir..." Bumblebee fidgeted nervously with his hands.

Ultra Magnus regarded him for a moment, before nodding, and Bumblebee's spark soared. "I agree. I've a feeling we're going to need a strong force, however. My senses tell me that the Vampires are converging there. Therefore, Optimus Prime, you will take Bumblebee, Bulkhead and Ratchet with you."

The four of them saluted, although it felt strange to be addressed without Prowl.

"Sentinel Prime," Ultra Magnus went on, and Sentinel's spark sank. Did he _really_ have to go back to that horrid, organic planet?! "You will be accompanied by Jetfire, Jetstorm and Blurr."

Sentinel saluted unhappily. The Jet-Twins and Blurr saluted with a bit more enthusiasm.

"And, Rodimus Prime," Ultra Magnus addressed the young maroon and orange bot. "You will take with you Hotshot, Warpath and Ironhide."

"Sir!" The four of them saluted.

"Meanwhile," Ultra Magnus turned to Preceptor. "I ask that you continue your studies on Vampire Venom, Preceptor. Arcee and Flare-Up are to assist you, as they have been doing before, and Red-Alert, you will oversee the entire production of Project Victory."

"What about you, sir?" Red-Alert wanted to know. She was sad that she would be separated from Ratchet again, and Arcee wished that she could go with Blurr, and Flare-Up was going to miss Warpath, but there was work to be done by all of them!

"I will be overseeing the teams stationed on Planet Earth." Ultra Magnus said, and his statement was met with surprise by nearly everybot.

"But, sir, what about the position of Magnus?" That was Sentinel, of course. He was thinking: _If I'm going to be on Earth, than who's going to be Magnus?_

Ultra Magnus nodded. "I was getting to that. The role of Magnus has, for now, been taken over by my temporary successor, until such time as I return to Cybertron."

Sentinel and Optimus exchanged a glance, and then looked back at Ultra Magnus.

Ultra Magnus gestured to the back of the room, and the femme-bot that Optimus had seen earlier now stepped forward. She carried herself confidently and with grace, but bore scars on her arms from the battlefield.

When she was standing in front of Ultra Magnus, she saluted, and he saluted her. She then turned around, and gazed steadily at the occupants of the room.

"Say hello to your new Magnus." Ultra Magnus said, earning him shocked glances from most of the other mechs. "Override Magnus."

Override nodded carefully.

Ultra Magnus explained. "Override was a competent field agent during the war, and involved heavily in Project Omega. She just recently took over as the head of Autobot Intel.. I, however, have no doubts of her ability to handle the role of Magnus."

Sentinel was looking like he didn't really believe it, but he couldn't say so.

"Thank you, sir." Override had a strict voice that made her sound English. "About a megacycle ago, I received a communication from Earth, from the cyber-ninjas known as Prowl and Jazz. They have confirmed that there are indeed Vampires present on Earth, and they are requesting immediate reinforcements to assist them. The number of human casualties is rising, and the situation is grave. They are currently stationed in the city of Detroit."

"Prowl and Jazz are alive?" Optimus exchanged another glance with Sentinel, and he looked just as shocked as Optimus felt.

Override nodded. "Yes. They have much to discuss with you, but hinted to me that they will not be there upon your arrival."

"Won't be there?" Rodimus repeated. "For what reason...?"

"I believe that, given the data I have collected and analyzed, that the cyber-ninjas have acquired the means to travel across dimensions to where Emma, also known as the All-Spark Carrier, Angel, is." Override said briskly. "it is almost a hundred percent certain that this is what they meant."

Optimus shook his head. "Why don't they just wait for...us...?" He found himself mentally face-palming.

_Not in this lifetime, Prime._ Ratchet commed him.

"Well, the Space-Bridge is up and running from this side," Bulkhead spoke up. "So, we can leave for Earth as soon as possible."

Override nodded. "Yes." She turned to Ultra Magnus, and they saluted. "I wish you luck, sir."

The meeting disbanded. Optimus and Override were the last two to leave, and she spoke to him on a personal level.

"Optimus Prime, sir, I had the opportunity to meet Angel, many years ago, when I was injured on Speed Planet." Override told Optimus, running a hand across the scars on her arm that had not healed. "She used the power of the All-Spark to heal me from certain death. The All-Spark is, indeed, a wondrous thing."

"Yes, it certainly is." Optimus agreed, but he was wondering where this was all headed. He found out.

"Jazz has informed me that the formerly accused Decepticon spy, Wasp, has been returned to his fully technological state." Override said, and Optimus' optics widened. "He (Wasp) has claimed that he saw a silver Transformer flying overhead on that day, when the All-Spark restored him to his current state. He also said that he was not alone. I am sure you do not need any further explanation, Optimus Prime?" She gazed at him, her blue optics still steady.

Optimus drew in a breath, realising what she meant. "You mean...her...as well...?"

Override nodded. "Yes, though she has not accompanied the others back to Detroit. It seems she has lost her faith in us. Optimus, I want you to make it your mission to restore Elita-One's faith in us. Understood?"

Optimus was silent for a moment, before he nodded. "Yes, Ma'Am." He saluted.

She returned the salute. Her optics softened, slightly. "I lost my own spark-partner many stellar cycles ago. I would give _anything_ to have this chance that you have. Do not waste it, Autobot."

* * *

Sari, Miko and Flora were going through Sari's photo-album. They sat on her big bed, turning the pages of the book, and exclaiming over old memories.

"Oh, look, there's Sari's birthday when she was eight, and the following year when she was sixteen!" Miko pointed.

"Aww, wasn't little Sari so adorable?" Flora teased, and Sari swatted at both of their shoulders. Then, a photo caught her eye.

"Heh, there's the piñata." Sari remembered the moment she had swung at purple dinosaur, and missed. Some of her guests had laughed _at_ her, but her Father, Emma and the Autobots had laughed _with_ her. There was a difference, and she understood that now.

"And there's a picture of Emma and Prowl smiling at each other!" Miko giggled. "Sari, I can't _believe_ you got a picture of that!"

"I can." Flora rolled her eyes.

Miko nudged her. "And what about you, Ms. Going-Out-With-Wasp?" Flora blushed a brilliant shade of red. "So, when were you planning on telling us about _that_?"

Flora sighed. "I dunno...I'm a bit worried about him, though..."

Miko and Sari exchanged a glance, and then looked back at Flora. "How come?" They asked in unison.

Flora shrugged. "He's still a bit...shy..."

"Shy?" Miko asked in disbelief. "Is _that_ what you call it? Flora, that is _not_ what this is...sounds like your boyfriend's got _major_ trust issues!"

"Miko's right, Flora." Sari was more gentle. "Wasp's still feeling mistrustful of the Autobots...he just needs some time, okay?"

Flora nodded. "Okay...oh, and for the record, Miko, he is _not_ my boyfriend!" She whacked Miko with the panda toy named Bulkhead, and Miko hit her back with a pillow so, for a few minutes, there was a chaotic pillow-fight, where feathers went flying and Scuz-Bag crawled under Sari's dressing table and wouldn't come out again.

The pillow-fight only ended when there was a knock on the door.

Sari rolled her eyes and tried not to groan, as she walked over and opened the door.

Standing there was her Father's wife, the beautiful Indian woman, Saipriya Sumdac. She had long dark brown hair and kind dark eyes, and wore a red bindi on her forehead. When Miko had asked her that afternoon if it was because she was married (causing Flora to nudge her for pointing it out so blatantly), Saipriya had said that it in fact represented a third-eye, and was a reminder to keep God in the front of all thoughts.

Now, she stood in the doorway to Sari's room with a tray of milk and cookies. "I thought you and your friends would like a snack." Saipriya said in her soft, Indian accent.

Sari practically snatched the tray from her, and said: "Yup, thanks Saipriya, bye!" She shut the door quickly with her hips, and made her way back over to the bed. "Milk and cookies? _Really_?" She muttered, setting the tray down between them.

Miko pounced on the cookies. "Are these chocolate chip?!" She took a big bite. "Oh wow, did your Mum _make_ these?! These are _good_!"

"She is _not_ my Mother!" Sari snapped.

"Aww, come on Sari, maybe you should give her a chance?" Flora suggested, smiling. "She seems really nice, and it was _awfully_ good of Emma to bring her back from the dead, wasn't it?"

Sari sighed. "Yeah, I guess she's okay...I just wish she'd stop trying so hard..."

Flora nodded, and then both of them turned to Miko, and stared in shock.

"What?" Miko blinked. "What are you looking at me like that for? I didn't eat them all, I left you one each!"

Flora and Sari rolled their eyes.

"So, how's school going, Sari?" Flora wanted to know after a little while. They hadn't really spoken about it much over the phone or online.

"Oh, please, don't _remind_ me!" Sari lay back on her bed. "Everyone looks at me like I'm some kind of freak, and I haven't made _any_ friends!"

Miko stared at her. "What about that list of people I gave you?"

Sari stared back at her. "What list? Miko, you never gave me any list!"

"You mean there's no list?!" Miko gasped.

Sari shook her head. "There's no list."

Flora sighed. "Okay, next week, we'll introduce you to everybody. You'll like Jessamyne Jameston, she has the same hair-colour as you. She's from the country, so she also has trouble making friends..."

"Hmm..." Sari nodded, just as there was a knock on the door. "What is it?"

Saipriya opened the door, and said: "I have come to collect the tray."

"Yup, thanks." Sari got up and swiftly handed the older woman the dirty dishes, before shutting the door again.

Miko and Flora exchanged a glance, but didn't say anything.

Sari came and sat back down, and that was when Flora decided to bring up another, slightly tedious, subject. "Say, Sari...do you know why Prowl, Jazz, Miko and I came back here?"

Sari didn't look at her. "Well, you mentioned something about Vampires and what-not, but..."

Miko jumped in. "I got attacked by Starscream first, but then Prowl and Jazz showed up, with Lockdown, and now they're working together because Lockdown found a Warp Device that can take them to the same dimension as Emma!"

Sari blinked. "Umm, what?"

Flora sighed. "Okay, what she _means_, is that Prowl and Jazz have found a way to Emma, and the Decepticons, for some strange reason or other, are helping them."

"Can they be trusted?" Sari gasped.

Flora shrugged. "Dunno. It seems to be working out, for now. They're just waiting for one of Starscream's clones to arrive, since he can, apparently, use this warp thingie-ma-jig, and they need a location with a lot of the specific type of Transwarp Energy..."

"Such as...where Emma _first_ appeared in this world?" Miko suggested.

Sari closed her eyes briefly, and then opened them again, noticing for the first time the mobile phone in Flora's hand, no doubt ready to text Prowl and Jazz as soon as they got the location.

"The Autobots just up and abandoned us..." Sari whispered. "After Jazz and Prowl came back with me to Earth, they just up and vanished..."

"We know." Miko nodded. "It's been lonely for us too. At least you had Victoria and the twins...both sets of them...: She added.

Sari drew in a deep breath, and then exhaled, slowly. "The intersection of Regal Drive; Chivalry Way; Voyager Drive and Expedition Drive."

"Done!" Miko was a fast texter. She snapped her mobile phone shut. "And now..."

"Now, we just wait for them to go and bring Emma back." Flora stated.

There was another knock on the door.

"_For the love of Primus, WHAT_?!" Sari fairly screamed.

The door opened, but it wasn't Saipriya that was there.

It was Bumblebee.

* * *

Jazz and Prowl were speeding through the streets of Detroit, heading towards the place that Miko had texted them. They had already contacted Skywarp, and he'd agreed to meet them there as long as they were in their holoforms. Knowing that the cowardly Decepticon wouldn't hurt them, the cyber-ninjas had agreed.

They had _not_ told Starscream and Lockdown yet, for the reason that they simply didn't _trust_ the Decepticons completely. Besides, Starscream was somewhat of a rival, in the grand scheme of things. Jazz and Prowl could trust each other, but _not_ Starscream, and that was that.

As they waited, in their holoforms, for Skywarp to arrive, Jazz and Prowl remained silent, thinking about certain things. Like the fact that they'd just seen the Space-Bridge atop Sumdac Tower activate, and knew that their friends were there. And, the fact that Slipstream had reportedly vanished, and nobot knew where she'd gone to. And, the fact that, very soon, both of them would be seeing the femme they loved. As soon as they got to her world, they would find her...

The sound of a jet's engines filled the silence just then, and both Jazz and Prowl looked up to see the dark blue clone hovering above them. He transformed, and then looked around nervously, jumping when he saw the two cyber-ninjas.

"D-don't hurt me, please!"

It seemed strange for a giant robot to say that to two holoforms, but that was Skywarp's true nature.

Prowl held up his hands. "We just need your help, is all."

Skywarp nodded, and transformed into his holoform, although he was shaking. "O-okay...l-let me see the d-device...please..."

Prowl glanced at Jazz, and he nodded. Prowl handed the device to Skywarp.

Skywarp examined the device carefully, and then nodded, almost to himself. "O-okay...t-take my hands..." He said, closing his eyes and letting the device float in front of him. It began to glow blue, and strange markings shone through on its surface.

Jazz and Prowl quickly took his hands and then, as an afterthought, took each others' hands as well. A strange, soft yellow glow surrounded them, and the air was thick with Transwarping Energy of a different kind...

Skywarp wasn't sure how he recognized any of this, or even how he knew what he was doing but, somehow, the ability to warp had been bred into him, and so they all three of them began to fade out in the middle of the intersection.

A fourth figure, watching them from the shadows, suddenly opened his red eyes wide.

"You are _not_ leaving without me, you traitors!" Starscream vowed, and he lunged forwards and grabbed Skywarp's ankle, just as they all disappeared with a crackling of electricity.

* * *

Prowl, Jazz, Skywarp and Starscream fell through space, through dimensions and through endless corridors. Space and time were endless; everything around them was an infinite mass of everything and nothing.

Somehow, they were separated, with Skywarp and Starscream going one way, and Jazz and Prowl going the other way.

They all ended up in the same dimension, luckily and, even better...

Prowl and Jazz had the Warp Device.

* * *

On Cybertron, Slipstream, whom had snuck in through the Space-Bridge that Bulkhead had left operational, trudged through the underground tunnels, coming to a stop by a huge door. It had markings engraved onto it, and gears and cogs embossed upon it.

"So, I've finally found you...Vector Prime..." The She-Decepticon smiled to herself...


End file.
